Familia Ante Omnia
by StrifesLady
Summary: What would it be like if everything about Harry Potter was wrong. What if Lily Potter wasn't his mother? what if he had more than one godfather? What if he was raised by Isshin and Masaki Kurosaki? What if Harry was a She? What if the Blacks had a secret? What if Harry remembered who he used to be?
1. Warning Page!

******Disclaimer:** I do not own nor believe I own these particular worlds, I just like playing in them. Harry Potter and all other Characters from said realm are owned by J.K. Rowling. Naruto is owned by Masashi Kishimoto while Bleach is owned by Tite Kubo. All three are wonderful authors and I would never dream to usurp their authority, I just like playing in their sandboxes. If my story resembles another than that is not intentional as I began to write this about two years ago but was determined to complete it before posting it to any site.

**Familia ante omnia**

BY: **_Strifes_Lady_**

Warnings: Lets see how many I can fit…Highlight to read! Slash, Het, Yuri, Gender-Bending of main Characters, Crossover with three fandoms, AU's of all three Fandoms, and finally… Mpreg. There you are duly warned, now don't come crying to me about one of these warnings cause I won't listen.

Pairings: Warning there is a long list ahead with spoilers for the fanfic read at your own risk… Highlight to read!

FemHarry/Kisuke Urahara, James Potter/Remus Lupin, Sirius Black/Severus Snape, Ichigo Kurosaki/Byakuya Kuchiki, Rukia Kuchiki/Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger/Kenpachi Zaraki, Yoruichi/Soi Fon, Jushiro Ukitake/Nymphadora Tonks, Fred and George Weasley/Yumichika Ayasegawa, Percy Weasley/Isane Kotetsu, Ginny Weasley/Tetsuzaemon Iba, Kingsley Shacklebolt/Nanao Isa, Blaise Zabini/Orihime Inoue, Molly Weasley/Arthur Weasley, Bill Weasley/Fleur Delacour, Theodore 'Ted' Tonks/Andromeda Tonks, Alice Longbottom/Frank Longbottom, Lee Jordan/Theodore Nott, Shuhei Hisagi/Kensei Murguruma, Shunsui Kyoraku/Sado 'Chad' Yasutora, Gin Ichimaru/ Rangiku Masumoto, Hanataro Yamada/Ganju Shiba, Shinji Hirako/Hiyori Sarugaki, Kiyone Kotetsu/Sentaro Kotsubaki, Rose Otoribashi/Love Aikawa, Toshiro Hitsugaya/ Karin Kurosaki, Lisa Yadomaru/Mashiro Kuna, Renji Abari/Ulquiorra Schiffer, Uryu Ishida/Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez, Yazu Kurosaki/?.

Thanks: My thanks go out to RainbowChris whom was good enough to beta this story and for my mother who was patient enough to listen to my rambling. My thanks also go to the creators of said fandoms for without whom I wouldn't have these characters to play with.

Notes:

Some parts of it have been taken directly from the book, however I am trying to keep from doing that too much. Hagrid's tale will be mostly straight from the book, except for certain parts of it. My Hermione is not as enthusiastic over the freedom of house elves, as she had spoken directly to several house elves with Kushina's encouragement. My Ron is less insecure and more sure of himself, while Neville has more confidence thanks to the return of his parents. He is still somewhat shy and unsure of himself but that is fading thanks to his mother and father's encouragement. I will be writing at least two books in this series and maybe three if I can get my muse to cooperate. XD Kushina isn't perfect far from it in-fact, she has her flaws...she just hides them very well.

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And now without further ado, On with the fic!


	2. Chapter 1: Revelations

Chapter One: Revelations

Harry Potter was an unusual child, but not for any reason that you might think. Oh indeed the school that Harry went to was wondrous and magical, for it was a school of magic. On Harry's eleventh birthday, a giant came knocking and led Harry into a life of adventure and excitement.

In Harry's first year alone, Harry and two friends had faced quite a challenge; keeping a stone, that could give unlimited gold and eternal life to the owner, safe from being stolen by Voldemort. In Harry's second year, they faced a giant snake, the most feared of all serpents the Basilisk, which only flees from the crow of the rooster. In a battle for the life of the Ron's little sister, Harry had slew the snake but was bitten in the process. Harry's life was only saved by the tears of the Headmasters Phoenix, Fawkes. In Harry's third year at Hogwarts, Harry faced Dementors, and an escaped convict believed to be after Harry's life. However, the convict would sooner have tore out his own heart then harm the boy he had sworn to protect. Harry had discovered that the convict was innocent of the crime which he had been convicted for, and that the man who taught him Defense Against the Dark Arts, as well as how to use the Patronus charm, was a werewolf.

However this was not the strangest thing about Harry Potter, but the fact that just this past school year, Harry faced his enemy returned to body, Tom Riddle, known to the Magical world as Lord Voldemort, one of the most feared Dark Lords. Indeed the Magical world feared him so much they dared not speak his name even when it was believed that he was dead. Instead they called him He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Name or You-Know-Who. However Harry had very rarely ever referred to him as such, often citing 'Fear of a name increases fear of the thing itself.' (This habit has been the reason that most of his house are less prone to flinching at the name then other houses and people.)

During the last year Harry was forced to compete in an adult tournament or lose the very thing that Harry had come to love, Magic itself. During the last task of the tournament, Harry and another competitor was whisked away by a portkey to the grave yard of Little Hangleton. Where Cedric Diggory, the seventh year Hufflepuff champion, died at the hand of the traitor of the Potter family, Peter Pettigrew, who was believed to be dead by the Ministry of Magic. However Peter had tricked everyone by remaining in his animagus form of a common rat, for twelve years he hid in a wizarding household until Sirius Black broke out of Azkaban. The second to break out and only to do so without outside aid, Sirius had escaped because of his animagus form of a large black dog that resembled the grim.

During the tournament, Harry had visited Sirius who was staying in a cave on the outskirts of Hogsmeade with Buckbeak the Hippogriff. During one such visit, Sirius sprang a surprise on young Harry, he had spoken of a secret that had been kept for the past fourteen years. You see Harry Potter was not the child's actual name, nor was Harry Potter even a boy. No, James Potter had hid the fact that he had a daughter by hiding her underneath a glamour. Sirius revealed to her the true name which she had been given, Kushina Ruri Potter.

He had then dropped another bomb shell on her, he was not her only godfather but her other godfather was underneath a memory charm and did not remember being her godfather nor being married to Sirius. After Sirius had revealed her true gender to her, Kushina had remembered something, she had been told that before but she had, for her own safety, been taught how to guard her mind. Right before she left for the Dursleys, she put those memories in a box and sealed it shut, only to be opened either if someone told her or if she reached the age of fifteen, whichever came first. Until the age of ten she had lived with her Aunt and Uncle, Masaki and Isshin Kurosaki, as well as her cousins, Ichigo, Yuzu and Karin.

When she told Sirius about that, he had given his trademark barking laugh and said, "that's just like James. Have a contingency plan in place in case all others fail." And on June nineteenth she found out just how much her father loved to prepare for just-in-cases. For a letter had been delivered by owl, a letter that was now lying on her desk, it had been written on October nineteenth of nineteen eighty-one. It had read:

To my dearest daughter,

If you are reading this then I am either dead or otherwise incapacitated. Know this my child, I would never leave you alone if I could help it. If Sirius has done as I requested of him then you already know that you are a girl and underneath a glamour.

I can only hope you understand why I chose to hide this fact from the world. I know that my cousin, Masaki, will abide by my request to take you in if in the event Sirius cannot do so and you end up at the Dursleys for some bizarre reason.

I don't quite know how to tell you this, however, you do need to know…

I had been planning to tell you as soon as you were old enough to understand. You may or may not know this, but wizards can become pregnant so long as the two are soul mates. By now you should know all about the Black family dreams, and how you can see the future in them. When I was five my dreams began, I saw myself holding a baby wrapped in pink, I heard myself say 'hello, my little Kushina, I love you so much.' I then saw Lily move to my side and asked me if she could hold her niece. I told her of course she could, as she held you she swore the In Parentes Locus Oath.

What I am trying to tell you Kushina is that Lily is not your mother…I am.

I had adopted Lily as my sister on September 23 of 1979, to the rest of the world she appeared to be my wife. This was due to the fact that she had my last name and no one except your other godfather knew of the adoption.

I am sure you are wondering who your father is; if I am your mother, well your father is one of my dearest friends and despite his self esteem, or rather lack of it, I think the world of him. I had questioned him shortly after conceiving you about his thoughts of becoming a father one day, to my surprise he swore up and down he would not become a father. He seemed to believe he would be a terrible father, I know better though, he adores you just as much as you adore him, even if he does not know you are his...

He still loves you to bits…

However I still have not told you who he is, have I?

Very well. I'll tell you point blank.

Kushina, if you have to already met him, your father's name is Remus John Lupin, and he is a werewolf, he has been a werewolf since the age of five.

There I said it, or rather I wrote it. If you have met him, he more than likely doesn't know he is your father, there are only two other people beside myself that know he is. One is your godmother, the other is one of your godfathers, the first is Lily and the second is Severus. If the memory charm has not yet failed, do me a favor and walk up to Severus. Tell him that his 'Silly Mutt' is acting up again and to do something about it. That should break the memory charms hold on him.

Lily swore the Oath no more than five minutes after your birth, she also doctored the birth certificate with a glamour that is set to wear off when you turn sixteen. Although Sirius knows what your real first and middle names are he does not know your full name. Your full name is Kushina Ruri Potter-Lupin.

Remember this my daughter, I love you, now and always.

Your Loving Mother,

James Andrew Potter

A.K.A. Prongs of the Marauders

P.S. if I am dead, look after your father for me.

Kushina had stared at it for many hours but it had made sense, especially since her godfather had remarked often during her visits to tell him about her school years just how much she acted like Remus and not all that much like Lily. However she chose not to dwell on the letter too much, nor indeed on the end of the tournament, instead she focused on getting back into shape.

She had been sneaking out of the house every night and going over to her Fiancé's England house, Jackal's Lair, to train in the basement with her swords, Thanatos and Anubis. Within both swords resided one of the two guardians of her inner world, she usually wielded Anubis with her left hand while Thanatos was wielded with her right. Every so often though she'd switch hands in mid fight and throw her opponent off balance when they would be attacked by a different sword in the opposite hands.

For over a month she trained with her swords and ignored the letter, she didn't even mention it to her godfather. She didn't quite know how to bring it up, how do you tell a man that a person he considered a brother had hid such a large secret from him.

Sirius had been coming over to Jackal's Lair every weekend, but to her surprise on Friday, three days before her birthday, Sirius was already at Jackal's Lair working on the motorcycle that one of her trainers had left behind. She had stood in the doorway for a few minutes before asking, "what's wrong Sirius? You're here a whole day early." She had noticed he suspended the bike using a central stabilizer, and had several tools laid out for use. "Changing the brake pads Sirius?" She asked with an amused smile.

Sirius snorted but nodded in response to her last question before he answered her first, "simple my dearest goddaughter. Albus seems to be quite determined to keep things from you, and I keep telling him that keeping things from you will hurt more than it will help. Plus he wants me to stay in my childhood hell at all times." As he spoke he loosened several bolts to take off the fork legs. She watched him set them aside, in their own little compartments so he wouldn't lose track of them.

Sirius then leaned over and grabbed the calipers so he could move the retaining pins, he turned the pins clockwise until they were visible, he then set the calipers aside so he could grab the nose-clip pliers next. He gently pulled the pins out, before grabbing the calipers again and removing the pads, he frowned at the set and put them aside.

Kushina cocked her head to the left with a smile, "I take it that they aren't in good shape then?"

Sirius laughed lowly, "nope they certainly aren't." He said as he replaced the old pads with newer ones, and after making sure the pads were in a secure position, he put the retaining pins back into place along with the clips. He placed the caliper back in the fork leg and used a torque wrench to apply some force to release the lever block. He then used a pump in order to both check and correct the pressure of the new brakes to make sure they were firm.

After Sirius was done with that Kushina remarked, "I'm going to train for a while, then I'll make you some dinner. How do you feel about stir fry tonight?" She asked him.

He snorted, before lowering the bike back onto the ground, "that sounds fine Kushina. I think I'll replace the oil and oil filter tonight and work on the air filter tomorrow."

She nodded, "alright. I'll call you when dinner's finished." With that she turned around and left, but not before wondering, _**just what is it that the headmaster is trying to keep from me?**_

She heard as one of her inner guardians commented, _**who knows, Kushina. Surely he's realized by now that you'll figure it out anyway.**_ Thanatos remarked quietly while Anubis remained silent but sent agreement with his counterparts words.

_**Who knows what he's thinking…If it's that important. Then me, Ron and Hermione will figure it out sooner or later…**_ Kushina sent back to them, before sending them a mental smirk, _**I think we had better get to work on my speed.**_ Both sent her feelings of agreement and contentment.

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Albus frowned to himself as he pondered Sirius notable absence from the meeting that had just been held concerning how much Harry should be told about the Prophecy hidden in the Department of Mysteries. After several moments of thought, he looked at Severus and asked, "could you go and fetch Sirius? I need to speak with him at once."

Severus sighed in exasperation but nodded then got up from his seat to go retrieve the mutt. As he walked up the stairs he started muttering about how he should not be the one to fetch the mutt, the wolf should instead, after he passed by Fred and George poked their heads out their door watching as he walked up the stairs to the next floor. Fred then turned to his twin and said, "I say Forge that our dear Professor is a mite upset at the Headmaster."

George smirked at Fred then while affecting an innocent look said, "I have no clue as to what you mean my dearest twin. How could he possibly be upset at the Headmaster after all, he was merely asked to go fetch the one man he proclaims to hate more then Harry."

Fred shook his head in mock confusion whilst murmuring, "I simply do not know my most gorgeous twin. Should we have told the Professor that Sirius is not in his room nor indeed even in the house?" Fred's eyes glinted in amusement as George shook his head in response. Both boys sighed in mock suffering then they duck back into their room while snickering in amusement.

While the twins had held their conversation, Severus had finally reached Sirius' rooms at the top floor of the house. With an angry twitch of the muscles around his right eye, he knocked on Sirius bedroom door. "Black, get down stairs now! The Headmaster wants to speak with you. So open the door already, you damn mutt." Severus rapped sharply on Sirius' bedroom door, annoyed at having to be the one to fetch the mutt. "BLACK! Open the damn door." As his eyes flashed with anger, he reached for the door handle and turned the knob. While muttering under his breath about ungrateful mutts, he walked into the room, he was half-expecting Sirius to throw a curse at him at, or to be seeing a sleeping or moping Sirius. As he entered, he had the bizarre thought that the room was far neater then he would have expected it to be.

However much to his surprise, none of those things happened. Instead, what met his gaze was an empty room, that is it was empty save for a box on the desk in the corner. Curious as to what was in it, he walked over and looked inside, as the top was slightly ajar, inside he found a letter addressed to him. Sirius had written it, as it was in Black's handwriting; he only recognized it due to seeing it during his school days. As he opened the letter, he glanced at the date. From the date on the letter, he could tell Sirius had just written it yesterday. He could only guess that Black had been putting it up when something else caught his attention, by Merlin only knows by what. After giving it a once over he sat down on the bed to read it in depth.

July 27, 1995

Dear Severus,

I bet you are surprised to get this letter from me… of course that is only if you do not remember what you are to me. If you are reading this then I am dead or Kissed by a Dementor… one of the two. You are probably wondering why I wrote this, well I wrote this to tell you, I love you and I never stopped loving you. I fell in love with you when I was five years old, you see all Blacks have prophetic dreams of their mates starting at the age of five and continuing until either the age of twenty or when we meet our mate for the first time. As you no doubt remember, we met at the age of eleven.

You might be wondering why I treated you so bad if I was in love with you, well as Lily once told me that in the muggle world little boys often would pick on someone they like if they want their attention. I guess you could say that I was jealous of the fact that you were paying attention to everyone but me thus I picked on you to get your attention onto me. I know you probably do not remember but after Lily and James had their child, they chose both of us to be her godfathers. Yes, Severus, I said her. James and Lily told us both that we would have to get along and if we still kept up our old habits, they would make us get along. However, old habits die-hard and they ended up locking us in a room that forced us to speak only the truth and told us that they would not let us out until we talked it out.

To our surprise we ended up not only burying the hatchet but we started dating, when you proposed to me, I was over the moon with happiness. We got married nine months after we started dating, but four months after our marriage, you started to hear murmurings amongst the Death Eaters that the Dark Lord suspected one of them to be a spy. You did not want to endanger us, especially Kushina and I, so you had Lily place a memory charm on you that was keyed to only break under certain circumstances, you never told me how it would break. Since you are reading this I can only assume that it never did, because if it had then you would know beyond a shadow of a doubt. That I could have never committed the crimes they say I did. I mostly wrote this so I could say this one final time…

I, Sirius Tiberius Black-Snape, Love You Severus Tobias Snape-Black, forever and a day.

Yours forever and always,

Sirius Tiberius Black-Snape

A.K.A. Padfoot of the Marauders

A.K.A. Your Silly Mutt

As Severus finished reading the letter, he realized he was crying as the memory charm broke and he remembered everything. He just found out he nearly caused his beloved husband to be kissed, and Sirius not only forgave him for it but he still loved him. Not only had he nearly gotten his husband worse than killed but also he spent the last four years bullying his goddaughter. He highly doubted that she could or would ever forgive him for doing that. However, unknown to him not only had his goddaughter forgiven him, she understood why he had done what he did.

Underneath Sirius' final letter to him, he found another one, this one however was addressed to Remus, and immediately he recognized the handwriting as belonging to James. The letter was unopened, so Severus decided to take it to Remus as since the letter to him was so important to him. Maybe just maybe this one would be just as important to Remus, especially if it contained what he thought it did.

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Remus looked up from his book as Severus walked in holding a letter, "Severus what is that?"

Severus raised his eyebrow and turned the letter toward him, "It's a letter for you from Potter." Remus blinked in astonishment along with everyone else who stayed after the first meeting.

"A letter from Harry," Molly asked.

However, all Severus had done in response was to shake his head and mutter, "wrong Potter." As he said that he tossed the letter to Remus and said, "you may want to read that by yourself, Lupin."

Remus nodded his head, walked out of the room, and went into his bedroom. Where he then shuts the door and puts up privacy wards, he then opens the letter. As he read the letter, he sat down slowly in a chair right by the door.

Oct. 29, 1981

Dear Mooney,

If you are reading this, I am either dead or otherwise incapacitated.

Do you remember the conversation we had Christmas of 1977, where I asked you about whether you wanted children one day. Well I had just found out something that had both terrified and excited me. In the end it depended upon your answer if I told you about it. I rather doubt that you remember that you, Sirius and I got drunk that same year on Halloween or how Sirius left to go do something and left the two of us alone. We ended up kissing and one thing led to another. I am not trying to excuse my actions nor yours, as I do not know what was going through your mind.

We forgot to use contraceptive charms that night Remus. I found out one month later that I was pregnant with your child, and after you told me that you did not want children… Well let's just say that I decided not to tell you about that night for a little while.

I was scared Remus, I love you and I wanted to keep my child but you did not want children…

Although you never told us why because you love kids. After all, you adore our child even though you believe that our child is Lily's' and mine. I am afraid that I've kept another secret from you, my love, our child is not a boy, I gave birth to our daughter. Her name is Kushina Ruri Potter-Lupin not Harry James Potter, and in case you are wondering Ruri means emerald as when she was born, she had bright emerald green eyes although they later settled into golden green eyes.

You were not in England for her birth so you were never able to see her before we put the glamour charm on her. I was going to tell you before she turned four; I was hoping that you might be happy that she was yours and mine. Even Mooney loved her… As one night she got out of the house somehow when Lily was gone and the three of us were playing under the full moon. To this day I still don't quite know how she managed it. When Sirius and me saw Mooney heading for her, we were at first terrified, as neither of us were quite sure how he would react to a human child.

However, all he did was pick her up carefully by her clothing and take her back in the house then he curled up with her on the couch in front of the fireplace and fell asleep. The next morning you woke up and assumed that Sirius and I brought you inside and that Kushina wanted to be with you.

One final thing I need to tell you Remus, I never married Lily; I adopted her as my sister that is why she bears the Potter name. In addition to that… I have been in love with you since I was five. The Black family has what most members consider a curse upon it, we dream of our soul mates from the time we are five to either the time we meet them or the age of twenty. You are my soul mate, you see I knew from the time I was five that I would have a child with a werewolf. Therefore, you must now see that I have always known about your secret and it never stopped me from loving you.

I do not really know why I had the urge to write this but I have a very, very bad feeling I will not be able to see you for a long time. I hope my feeling about this is wrong, but if it is right and Sirius is unable to give this to you in time… Then know that my cousin Masaki has agreed to raise our daughter. I do not want our child, under any circumstances, anywhere near Lily's sister.

Yours and Mooney's, forever now and always,

James Andrew Potter

A.K.A. Prongs of the Marauders

P.S. I shall remain your loving and devoted mate, now and forever. Look after our daughter for me.

As Remus read the letter he got up and paced around the room, until he reached the part where James wrote that he had always known about his Lycanrophtry. Remus had then sat on his bed in shock, not only did James always know about it, Harry was his child, not to mention Harry was a girl. He heard a knock on the door of his room; he took down the privacy wards on automatic. He looked up as he heard Severus clear his throat and asked Severus, "did you know that Harry is a girl?"

Severus closed the door and leaned against it, after he nodded yes, he asked, "is that what James wrote to you about?" As he asked that he had tilted his head to the left, curious about what James had written to Remus.

Remus raised his right eyebrow at Severus' curiosity then blinked in shock while exclaiming, "since when do you call Prongs, James?" He was absolutely shocked as Severus had always referred to James as Potter, never by his first name.

Severus smirked at Remus' shock, then said sardonically, "perhaps since the day he adopted my best friend as his little sister." As Severus said that, he raised his left eyebrow.

He shook his head in disbelief, then staring him straight in the eye demanded, "did Sirius know that James' child was mine," Remus asked Severus with a slightly angry look on his face.

Severus shook his head as he uncrossed his arms, "no only Lily, me and James knew that you were Kushina's Father and that James was her mother. All Sirius knew was that Kushina was a girl and James had him swear not to tell you but rather to let him or Kushina be the one to tell you." He said that in an amused tone, as if the reaction of Sirius being told that only either Kushina or James were to tell Remus about his daughter was particularly humorous.

Remus blinked in realization and murmured, "oh, well I guess Sirius would have known about her being a girl as he is her Godfather." As he spoke the angry look disappeared from his face and a look of dawning understanding replaced it.

Severus smirked while saying, "he is not the only one who is her godfather, as I'm also her godfather. Lily took the position of Godmother plus being her aunt. I don't suppose James mentioned yet another secret that he kept from you in that letter?"

Remus raised his right eyebrow and asked, "what other secret?"

Severus looked to the right then looked back at him and said, "Sirius and I were bonded on June 17, 1981. We used a Druidic ceremony that only required one person for each bonded. Lily stood for Sirius and James stood for me. I believe that you were babysitting Kushina for them that night." Remus merely nodded in agreement to that statement.

"Where is Sirius at anyway," Remus asked. As he asked this he rose from the bed and started to pace while thinking.

Severus said in a drawling tone, "I have absolutely no idea, when I went to get him for the Headmaster, he wasn't in his room. I, at first thought the door was unlocked but now I know that his locking charm recognized my magic and let me in." Remus gave him a questioning look as if asking 'Just what you mean by that?'

Severus smirked, "the ritual we used blended our magic together and so any spell cast by one cannot harm the other. Sirius likely locked the door against all but himself." As he spoke, he watched him pace the room, staring out from behind a veil of hair.

Remus paused in his pacing as he looked at him in comprehension. "Ahh, I get it since your magic's are blended, as far as his spell was concerned you were Sirius and thus allowed in." After his statement he continued to pace.

Severus nodded, "got it in one." As he said that he had a bemused look on his face.

Remus hummed in thought, "so what do we tell the rest of the Order?" As he spoke he finally stopped pacing around the room. He then turned toward Severus and stared at him.

Severus stared back at him then raised his right eyebrow in a sarcastic gesture, "what do you mean by that? If you mean what to tell them about your letter, say it was personal and none of their business. That it is no ones business except yours and maybe Kushina's as the letter was addressed to you not them. If your talking about Kushina, I say tell them nothing, as we cannot risk her safety. If they knew, the information might leak out and the Voldemort would know. And that is most likely the last thing James would have wanted." As he spoke that last sentence he gestured violently as if to demonstrate how much James would be angry if the information was leaked at too early a moment.

Remus nodded in agreement, "you're right about both the letter and Kushina. However, what about the glamour, we do not know for how much longer it is going to last. I'm amazed that it's lasted for fifteen years as it is."

Severus furrowed his brow in thought, "you're right about that Remus. The glamour should have worn off by now… I know for a fact that Lily did not put enough magic in it to have it last for fifteen years. She only put enough in to last for five, as James had been planning to tell you when she turned four."

Remus raised both of his eyebrows. "So either the glamour has not worn off or it already has and has since been redone by someone else, which would mean that another person knows or Kushina has found a way to replace it with out anyone noticing. Speaking of which does she even know she is a girl?" As he spoke he ticked off his points using his fingers and he glanced questioningly at Severus.

Severus snorted, "of course she knows, you wolf. Sirius promised James to tell her before she turned fifteen if she did not already know. He probably told her before the end of the Tri-wizarding Tournament. Shortly before the third task, she started to act a little off, but not so much off that her friends would notice."

Remus looked at him as if he was insane. "And just how does that make you think she knows? She could have also been feeling the pressure from the final task and then by Voldemort's return!"

Severus looked back at Remus as if he is an idiot. "No I know she knows due to the fact that she started to look through different books on wizarding traditions. That was including Druidic ceremonies, knowing Sirius he mentioned that he was married to me via one. She would have never started to look into them otherwise. As my husband would no doubt be saying right now 'No duh Mooney!' That is if he was here," after he said that he rolled his eyes in exasperation.

Remus held up his hands, "Okay, okay you win…So what are we going to tell the rest of the Order about Sirius being missing? Although he was getting antsy being in this house again and about having so many Order members around Kushina."

Severus nodded in agreement, "my silly mutt never has been able to sit still for long."

Remus raised an eyebrow at Severus. "Your silly mutt? Was that a term of endearment coming out of your mouth about Sirius? You're going to have to watch that Severus, especially if you two are going to keep pretending that you are not married to each other." Remus teased.

Severus looked away then looks back at Remus, "I know… Sirius does not even know I remember now…" as he trailed off his brow furrowed again in concentration.

Remus looked at him worriedly, "Severus, what wrong?"

Severus looked at him as if he is not there at all, "I just remembered something Remus. Lily had put two fail-safes in the memory charm on me; one was if I was told about my marriage to Sirius, the other was her death."

Remus raised his eyebrows, "Which means what?"

Severus looked at him, "I did not remember until my letter from Sirius telling me about our marriage. If Lily is dead then the Memory charm should have failed on Oct. 31, 1981. There is only one explanation for the memory charm not falling on that day. Lily is still alive!"

Remus' eyes widened in shock. "You're right, the memory charm should have failed, and since it did not that means she has to still be alive. However, what about James, his body had never been found either, as no one has been able to enter the house since that night. How can we know for sure only Lily is still alive?"

Severus smirked, "Isn't it obvious? We have to go to Godric's Hollow and look for ourselves. I know for a fact that I was never removed from the wards and neither were you as James wanted to make sure you would be able to come to visit."

Remus smiled back, "You're right lets go check it out. I mean Lily and James have headstones in the cemetery at Godric's Hollow but their bodies are not laid to rest there. I need to know whether or not James is dead, because my wolf does not believe he is." As he spoke he had an anxious look on his face and he quickly grabbed a traveling cloak from his closet.

"Just what do you mean by that remark?" Severus asked.

Remus looked up from pinning his cloak with a bemused expression, "Simple my wolf has been trying to tell me a couple of things for a while now. Number one: my wolf has always called Kushina our cub; I thought that Mooney simply was referring to the fact that Kushina was a child of a member of our pack. Now I know that she is James' and mine child so the term our cub fits. The second thing he has been saying is whenever I think about how I miss James. Mooney whispers in my ear, 'if you miss him then find him.' as far as Mooney cares James is still alive, just missing. I need to know if he is right."

Severus raised his eyebrow, "And if he is?"

Remus smirked, "isn't it obvious? We find him. If we find them both then Kushina will not have to go back to the Dursley's, as they would have no right to keep her as long as her parents are still alive. Not that they have any right to her now, seeing as I am her father." At that comment his eyes flash gold.

Severus merely nodded in acknowledgment, "So what time do you want to leave to Godric's Hollow?"

"Any time your ready?" replied Remus. "We will have to stay for the second meeting of course…"

Severus shook his head in response to the statement, "no we will not as I already told Dumbledore that Sirius is not currently in the house. He told me to come up and tell you to start looking for him. He wants me and you to look for him together; I think he is hoping that by making me look for him, I'll get along with him or you."

Remus laughed, "I'm going to take a wild guess and say you're not going to tell him you're married to Sirius any time soon, are you?" As he spoke he gestured for Severus to proceed him out of the room.

Severus said while smirking, "Of course I'm not going to tell him. Instead, I will just kiss Sirius in front of everyone as soon as his name has been cleared and then laugh at the looks on everyone's faces. Especially Minerva's, do you realize that Minerva and Albus still wear a resigned look on their faces whenever Sirius and me are in the same room? I think Sirius would be glad to help me prank the Headmaster. If I'm lucky he will be able to talk Kushina into helping keep our marriage a secret until then."

Remus grinned, "Oh I don't think he will have too much trouble doing that. Kushina has a flair for pranks you know, she loves them but she only pulls pranks on people who annoy her to the point of anger. She does not hex people when she gets angry, she pranks them instead. I think she follows the same adage that I do, which is 'don't get mad, get even' that little mantra of mine always made James laugh. He found it funny that a werewolf would refuse to get angry and instead prank the living hell out of someone."

Severus blinked in shock, "you know, that would explain why her second year DADA teacher was constantly having pranks played upon him. Minerva thought it was the Weasley twins, but now that I think about it, it was probably Kushina the whole time with only one or two tricks done by the twins. It was because he bothered her most of all out of the students. I mean he tried to tell her how to manage her fame, not to mention he insinuated that he was more famous then her. Despite the fact that as far as anyone knew she had defeated the Darkest of the Dark Lords while he had not." He snorted at the thought, but listened to Remus as they walked downstairs to exit the house.

"More than likely," Remus agreed. "Kushina is very vindictive when provoked. Draco Malfoy had better be grateful he has never annoyed her to the point that she pranks him. I have heard from Sirius about some of the pranks she played during her years at Hogwarts. Some of them James would be envious of, as he never had been able to pull them off himself. Of course that would be right after he crows about how his little girl is her parents child all right. Do you realize just how lucky we are that Kushina told Sirius not to tell the twins that he, James and I are three of the Marauders? I mean from what Ron and Hermione told me they all but worship the ground that the Marauders walked on." As Remus spoke, he was shaking his head in disbelief at their good fortune.

Severus' eyes widened and his face paled in terror, "damn we really are lucky that she made him swear that he would not tell."

"The worst thing about it is the fact that she only made him swear not to tell unless she was there to witness it and only when she told him it was okay to tell." Remus said while wincing.

As they exited the house and closed the door behind them, they sighed and said in unison, "we are in so much trouble when they finally find out."

"Right I guess we better get over to Godric's Hollow before the rest of the Order returns. Do you want to send a Patronus to Sirius or shall I?" Remus asked while glancing up at the night sky.

"I'll send it," replied Severus. Remus nodded in agreement. As Remus watched, Severus cast the Patronus charm, which instead of taking the form of a doe as before; it was a large bear-like dog. "Sirius, Dumbledore has ordered all those who stayed after the meeting to look for you when it was discovered you were not in the house. Either stay exactly where you are if you are safe or come back to Headquarters once you're done doing whatever it is that you are doing. Just be careful you silly mutt." Then as both watched it took off toward Surry.


	3. Chapter 2: Shattering Truths

Chapter Two: Shattering Truths

"Sirius, Dinner is ready to eat! So stop working on the motorcycle, wash your hands and come eat." Kushina called into the garage. As she stood in the doorway, she watched as Sirius tightened the last two bolts and stood up.

"Dinner's done already? That was fast." as he spoke, he wiped the oil off of his hands with a nearby grease rag.

Kushina looked at him amused, her lips twitching as if fighting back a smile, "it's not really that fast. You have been in here for the past forty minutes. That's more then enough time to fix a simple stir-fry." She leaned against the doorframe and waited for his response.

Sirius blinked in shock, "it's really been forty minutes?" She nodded in response to his question. "Damn, I thought I had only been in here for around twenty. Well as Lily always said, 'Time flies when you're having fun' guess she was right." Sirius gave a barking laugh before he shook his head in amusement.

She looked at him, "she said that huh."

Sirius looked at her with a soft look in his eyes. "Yeah, she did. It usually happened when James and I lost track of time while playing with you. She would scold us and tell us that you would never get your sleep schedule on track if we kept you awake when you were supposed to be down for your nap. James would merely look at her and pout saying 'she's the daughter of a Marauder; she doesn't need a schedule to sleep.' Lily would then tell him that you would need a good sleep schedule when you went to Hogwarts, because just being the child of one of the Marauders would not get her out of detention for falling asleep in class." Sirius explained, as he explained he walked across the garage to her before pausing to raise his eyebrow at her sardonically.

"I don't know whether or not her plan would have worked. I do not know if it is due to my childhood with Aunt Masaki and Uncle Isshin, however, I do have a very bad habit of waking up at one hour after dawn." Kushina said with a smirk on her face.

Sirius looked down at her horrified, "an hour after dawn. How could you possibly get up at that hour? You really are far too much like Remus; no matter what time he goes to bed he is always up one hour after dawn. One time after we had been out and about until 2 o'clock in the morning, he woke up at 6 o'clock completely refreshed as if he had been sleeping for 8 hours instead of four. That is why your dad used Remus to wake up the Quidditch team after he became captain. You see he knew that Remus would always wake up shortly after dawn, so he always booked the pitch for around that time. Then he would have Remus wake him up first, so he could sneak into the kitchens and get some breakfast for the team."

Kushina snorted, "that's better than Oliver Wood, in my second year he woke the entire team up before the crack of dawn and lectured us with out letting us get something to eat." As they were talking both walked into the house and Sirius used the kitchen sink to clean the grease and oil off his hands. Both sat down to eat, as they ate they continued with their discussion. Talking between bites of food, Kushina told Sirius about some of the antics of her former Quidditch captain Oliver Wood, who now was playing reserve Keeper for Puddlemere United. Which, Sirius ended up telling her, was James' favorite Professional Quidditch team unlike Remus who loved the Holyhead Harpies.

As the two of them washed the dishes from their meal, they saw silver light come streaking into the house. The light stopped in front of Sirius, and Kushina saw that it was a Patronus of a large bear-like dog. After listening to the message, Kushina looked over at Sirius and caught a smile blooming on his face. "Sirius, what is it," she asked curiously.

As he smiled at her, he said, "Severus remembers me, he remembers being married to me!" At the last word, his small smile became a full outright grin and he gave a barking laugh.

As Kushina watched him laughing, she could not help smiling, "how can you tell he remembers?"

"That is quite simple my dear goddaughter. After Lily put the memory charm on him, she told me that he had her hide a small compulsion; the compulsion would make sure he would never call me a silly mutt. She said he did that so it would be easy to tell if he remembered. When he included it in his message, it means that he was trying to tell me that the memory charm has fallen. He was also attempting to tell me he still loves me." As Sirius said all of that, he started to bounce in place, acting almost like an excited puppy.

"So are you going back now? Or will you be hanging around for a couple of more hours," asked Kushina who was very amused to see her godfather acting like a puppy.

"I think I'll stick around. After all I promised to watch one of your favorite movies with you." Sirius said with a haughty tone of voice. Of course, his twitching lips ruined the effect of his snobbish act. His tone of voice had the exact effect he wanted however, because as he watched her, Kushina collapsed into a fit of giggles. He then drawled out, "so what are we going to be watching anyway?"

Kushina slowly got herself under control and managed to gasp out, "Tremors."

Sirius raised both of his eyebrows, "Tremors? I don't believe I know that one."

Kushina smiled at him, "You wouldn't it came out the year before I went to Hogwarts. Ichigo and I were allowed to watch it but not Yuzu and Karin. It is actually considered a horror movie but after you watch it a few times any lingering horror wears off and, aside from the death scenes, at some parts its kind of funny. So wanna watch it?" Her eyes glinted in mischievous delight as she asked.

Sirius snorted in amusement and said, "Well, I don't really have much to do anyway, so sure why not."

She led the way into the living room and as Sirius settled down on the couch, she went over to the television and put in the movie. Then she went over to the couch, sat down, and curled up under one of the throw blankets.

At the same time Kushina and Sirius had settled down to watch their movie, Severus and Remus were making their way through Godric's Hollow to James and Lily's old house. Along the way, they passed a statue in the centre of the village that at first glance looked to be a war memorial but once they got close to it, they saw it was a statue of Lily, James and baby Kushina. Severus sneered as they passed and said, "I wonder whose brilliant idea that was?" As he asked that he jerked his head toward the, in his opinion, hideous statue.

Remus frowned as he walked passed it and stated coldly, "I don't know but if James and Lily are alive and we can find them, I know James will raise hell about it, the Potter Family are considered the Liege Lords of this area. No one is allowed to erect statues with out their permission, that alone will anger him, the fact the statue is of him will not help his temper. James may have been arrogant but not even at the height of his big headed days would he have wanted a statue like that." Remus then commented with his eyes turning bright gold in anger. "Let's just get to the house and get this over with, alright?"

"Agreed," commented a sneering Severus as they continued down the road leading out of the village.

They calmly passed by Bathilda Bagshot's house on their way to Lion's Cottage, as they walked up to the gate, Remus noticed a plaque on the gate that had not been there during the time of the Potters residing within the dwelling. As he read the plaque, his eyes flashed in rage, he then snarled, "just what gives them the right to decide that this house should stand as a monument to a war that most of them didn't even fight in. If it is anyone's choice it's Kushina's not theirs." As he said this he started growling lowly and bared his teeth in anger.

Although heavily damaged the house was still in fairly good condition, considering it had been left alone for more than 12 years. After he calmed down from his rage, or at least had it quieted, Remus commented almost wryly. "Huh, you would have thought it to be damaged more, if they couldn't enter to retrieve or even check to see if their bodies were in there." Remus looked up at the once magnificent cottage sadly, he had fond memories of the place before James had hidden it under Fidelius. He could hardly reconcile the once beautiful house with this one, the second story was badly damaged, there was a massive hole in outside wall of the nursery.

Severus scoffed, "the only reason that they could not enter the wards is because they were not keyed to them." He then sneered at their stupidity as they pushed open the gate of the yard. "There are only a few people allowed through the wards, without one of the Potters present in the house. Sirius, you and I are the only three allowed in when they are not home. As soon as Kushina crossed the wards on Halloween night, no one has been able to go into the house. The wards slam anyone that tries away from them, a couple of death eaters tried to enter the house to search for clues to where their master was. However, the wards reacted extremely badly, so Albus never tried to have me access the house. Which had been both bad thing and a good thing because if he had, I would have been able to cross them easily." Severus shook his head at his last sentence. "Although I did throw up some preservation charms to keep it and the contents intact." During the conversation they had paused after entering the yard.

Remus looked at him with his eyebrow cocked, "why did you put preservation charms on the house?"

Severus snorts then looks away from him, "To keep the house standing for one, and second to ensure nothing in the house rotted. Such as paintings, papers, clothing and stuffed animals. As I now remember you, I and Sirius all gave her a stuffed animal."

Remus raised both eyebrows at that, "really, I know I gave her a stuffed grey wolf, 'cause James told me once that my werewolf form resembles one only a lot bigger. Sirius gave her a stuffed black dog, one that looked exactly like his animagus form. What did you give her?" As he asked that he cast a curious glance toward Severus since they had entered the yard and were just standing barely inside of it.

Severus smirked while saying, "I gave her a stuffed lion with a black mane."

"Why did you give her that," asked Remus. "I mean, I know why Sirius gave her the dog and I just told you why I gave her the wolf. Also James gave her a stuffed stag, that way she would always have him near her when she was sleeping." He paused in thought then absentmindedly commented, "he probably had monitoring charms on it now that I think about it."

Severus looked at him amused, but nodded in agreement about the comment of James using monitoring charms to keep a careful watch on his child. He then drawled sarcastically, "maybe because it's my animagus form." As he said that he raised his left eyebrow at Remus.

Remus' jaw dropped and he stared at Severus in shock before exclaiming, "your animagus form is a LION! Ho…Wha...When did that happen!"

Severus glared at Remus before he hissed at him, "Keep your voice down or you will wake up the entire village!"

Remus blushed then murmured, "sorry, I was shocked. I mean transfiguration held no interest to you, especially since it was James and Sirius' favorite class."

Severus snorted, then said, "the only reason I didn't show interest in it was because it was their favorite, Lily preferred charms and I liked DADA, while both of us liked potions." As he said that he got a faraway look in his eyes whilst remembering the past, he then stated, "Lily and I became animagus with the help of James in our seventh year at Hogwarts. I brewed the potion and James helped us with learning how to transform. Both Lily and I were felines of the Lion family. My animagus form is larger then an African lion, although I recently found out which lion species I am." Severus replied with a sardonic smirk.

Remus drawled, "So which one are you?"

Remus watched as Severus smiled smugly, "I am what is commonly referred to as a Cave Lion. The reason as to why they are called Cave Lions is that their remains are often found in caves. Lily's animagus form is a Panthera Leo Atrox or more commonly known as the American Lion." Severus explained. "And James animagus form was no ordinary stag either. His animagus form was once commonly known as an Irish elk."

"Dang, I knew he was big due to the fact that Mooney never tried to attack him even once, but I didn't realize he was that big." Remus shakes his head in disbelief. "So how big are you exactly?"

Severus smirked at him and said, "I'm probably bigger than the African lion by double, but enough chatting, we might as well get this over with." As Severus spoke, he eyed the house warily. Remus nodded in agreement, as he too looked at the two-story house.

The two drew their wands and carefully crossed the front garden, once so carefully tended now wild beyond control, the scent of wildflowers heavy on the air. As they made their way to the front door, Remus stopped then suddenly commented, "just why are we being so careful. I highly doubt that there are any curses here that would be meant for us. Because I doubt Voldemort would be likely to believe he could be taken down by Lily and James, much less a baby." As Remus stated that he looked at Severus. Severus looked at him startled, and then shrugged his shoulders.

As they stopped on the front stoop, Severus sarcastically drawled, "Well in my case, it's from being a spy for seventeen years, what's your excuse?"

Remus says with just as much sarcasm back, "Werewolf, ergo naturally cautious." After stating that, he moved to the door and using Alohomora opened the lock, and then cautiously walked in. Thanks to Severus' preservation charm, the house was in the same condition that Harry and Voldemort let it in. The paint wasn't even peeling from the walls, although the house had a faint musty smell to it, and there was eerie feeling to the place as if the roof would cave in if you spoke to loudly.

The living room was to the left of the door, as he glanced around he noticed a large pile of rubble and mere inches from it he saw a familiar wand. He made his way through the rubble, picked it up and looked at it. It was made of mahogany, eleven inches, with a Thestral tail hair; yes, he knew that wand well. "This is James' wand alright. It being in the living room coincides with Kushina's vague memories of that night. From what she could recall thanks to the Dementors, James had told Lily to take her and run, that he would hold off Voldemort as long as he could." His jaw worked soundlessly and his eyes had a glassy sheen to them as he stared down at the wand.

"That sounds like James alright," as Severus said this he walked into the room as well and made his way through the piles of debris to stand next to Remus. "Well we might as well repair this wall and see if James is under it." As he said that, he put his hand on Remus' shoulder in a gesture of silent support. Remus swallowed, then blinked back the tears that he was trying to prevent falling, after stowing James' wand in his holster he nodded.

Remus softly said in a choked voice, "Yeah, might as well get this over with."

Then both men raised their wands and called out "Reparo!" Then as they watched, the wall between the living room and study that had been blasted down rapidly repaired itself along with the couch, coffee table and entertainment cabinet. One of the things that had been repaired was a picture frame containing a picture of Severus and Sirius holding each other while laughing; however, there was no body underneath the rubble.

As the picture had returned to its previous location on the wall, Remus turned to Severus, "well unless the other rooms on this floor are just as damaged, I'd say that there is a high possibility that James is still alive." As he said that he gained a determined look on his face as if bolstered by there being no body underneath the wall's remains.

Severus nodded sharply in agreement before he replied, "I already checked the kitchen, and dining room. All of them are still intact, in-fact I would go so far as to say that they had just finished dinner. There are dishes in the strainer, and I know Lily as soon as they were dry she would have put them away." As he said that, he walked over to the doorway to the study and glanced in, "all clear here. There is nothing in here except the desk and a few of Kushina's toys."

Remus smiled in fond remembrance then nodded and said, "James was the same way. Now let's see, no body in the living room, study, kitchen or dining room. I think it is safe to say James is more than likely alive, right?" As he asked that he looked anxiously at Severus.

"Agreed, I find it highly unlikely for him not to be. Voldemort might have kept them alive so he could get information out of them and during the years as a spirit forgot that he did so." Severus replied.

Remus hummed in agreement then asked in a forced upbeat tone, "So shall we go check upstairs?"

Severus nodded sharply and turned on his heel to go out of the living room and up the stairs at the back of the house. After checking all the other rooms on the second floor, they made their way to the nursery. From when they checked the master bedroom, they knew the wall between the master bedroom and the nursery had collapsed into the nursery. The other two bedrooms were completely untouched, Remus supposed that was because the doorway to the nursery was open Voldemort did not have to check the other rooms to find Lily and Kushina. As they went into the nursery, Severus spotted a wand about four inches from the pile. Skirting around the cradle he picked it up, "well, is it hers, Severus?" asked Remus, knowing that much like him with James' wand. Severus would be able to recognize Lily's wand on sight.

He swallowed, then in a tight voice said, "it's her wand alright, willow, ten and a quarter inches, swishy with a Dragons heartstring core." Severus cradled her wand in his hand for a moment longer and, then as Remus had done with James' wand, stored it in his wand holster.

"I guess we better repair this wall and check under it." Remus walked over and stood beside him, and then as one, they cast Reparo at the wall and watch as it repairs itself along with the two mirrors that had hung on the wall.

Remus smirked at the mirrors then chuckled in amusement. "Hmm, well if Voldemort broke those mirrors, it's no wonder he had a hell of a time for the last few years." Remus said sardonically.

Severus looked at him his expression saying that he was highly amused. He then snickered at the thought of broken mirrors being the reason as to why the Dark Lord had such bad luck for the last 14 years.

Remus then quips, "you would think a man so paranoid of death would be a little more superstitious." As he said that his eyes glinted mischievously, and for a moment Severus swore he could see the teenager Remus once was again. His expression combined with his comment caused Severus to laugh so hard that he ended up clutching the door jam in order to keep from falling on the ground laughing.

After he got himself back under control her commented, "I agree Remus, he should have been a little more careful with mirrors."

Remus smirked at his quip.

"Although this proves their bodies are not here, it does not prove that they are still alive either." Severus stated seriously. As he said that he looked Remus in the eye, with a solemn expression on his face, black eyes glittering in the low light.

Remus nodded with a serious aura about him, his eyes glinting a pale gold, then he smirked at him. "You're right about that, however it is sufficient proof to open an investigation into their death and/or their disappearance. Especially with your memories to prove that, Lily placed a memory charm on you that would only break under two circumstances. Amelia Bones will listen to that; she might even be willing to lend some Aurors to follow Mooney this upcoming full moon." As he said that he got a vicious grin on his face.

Severus raised his left eyebrow, "what do you mean by follow Mooney?"

"Mooney seems to think he knows where about James is. I am going to apparate to try to find an approximate location then on the night of the full moon let Mooney guide me to the exact location. James is not only my mate he is also the Ulfric of my pack. With the wolvesbane potion, I can keep my mind and thus be able to be safely followed. Sirius can come along in his animagus form." Remus explained.

Severus nodded in acknowledgment, "We are going to need to bring Kushina as well, though." Remus raised his eyebrow at Severus statement.

"And just why would we need to bring my daughter?" growled Remus, his eyes flashing a pale gold that reflected the sparse light.

Severus rolled his eyes. "Because the Dark Lord always had the prison houses spelled only to accept Parseltongue passwords. Whenever a Death Eater had to pick up a prisoner, the Dark Lord would send a snake with them and the snake would open the doors for them. Kushina can speak Parseltongue; ergo we will need her if we wish to remain undetected." As he spoke he waved his wand, getting rid of the dust and clearing the slightly musty air from the room.

Remus put his head in his hands and rubbed the heels of his hands against his eyes, "you're right of course. I just don't want to put her in danger."

Severus snorted, "She's been in danger ever since her first year at Hogwarts."

Remus' eyes flashed gold as he snarled, "I know, but that doesn't mean I have to like it."

After the two of them righted the nursery to the way that they remembered it, they leave the house and lock the door behind them. Then both apparate back to #12 Grimmauld Place, where they find that Sirius has yet to return but the rest of the Order has.

Meanwhile back at the house in Surrey, two people just finished watching a movie; the man was sitting on the edge of his seat while the girl watched his face with a barely suppressed smile. The man had a beaming grin on his faces and his eyes were sparkling. He started laughing when he heard one of the characters scream 'Can you fly, you sucker? Can you fly?' The girl smiled before she started laughing as well. As the two watch the credits, she asks, "so I take it you liked the movie, Sirius?" All that Sirius did to reply was nod as he was to busy bouncing in place and grinning to reply.

"That was one hell of a movie, Pup," after saying that he whistled and shook his head in amazement. Then he shook himself out of his daze. "Well I guess I better send a message to Severus to let him know that I'm staying where I am for now." Sirius then casts the Patronus charm and a large male lion appears before him, which stands before him awaiting its message. After giving the Patronus his message, he looked at Kushina and with a beaming grin asked, "So can we watch Tremors II?"

Kushina raised her left eyebrow, "sure we can watch it Sirius, but I have to ask 'conniving slithering serpent' what is up with that?"

Sirius smirked, "it means to Severus what silly mutt means to me."

"Ahhh, I get it, so by saying that in your message, you're telling him that you received and understood his." Kushina said.

"Right you are, my darling goddaughter, however before we watch the movie could you perhaps make some more cookies. The ones that we had for dessert and movie snacks were delicious," as Sirius said that he started to drool in remembrance.

Kushina's lips twitched, it never failed to amuse her, just how much her friends and family adored her cooking. "Sure Sirius, I'll make some more cookies. Do you want to lick the bowl after I'm finished?" Sirius nodded his head so fast he made himself dizzy. At that Kushina laughed so hard, she had to hold her stomach.

As she got out the ingredients for the cookies both heard the trap door to the training area open. Kushina raised one eyebrow and went to check to see who came over, as she looked she saw an orange haired teenage boy climb up, he was dressed in a Shihakusho and had a sword wrapped in white cloth across his back. It was clear from the amount of dirt and dust on him, not to mention the bandages that he had been training. He looked up and asked, "oh, hi Kushina, how ya been?"

Kushina smiled at him and as soon as he came all the way up the ladder, closed the trap door he gave her a hug and she replied, "I'm good Ichigo. How have you been? Are Uncle Isshin, Yuzu and Karin alright?"

Ichigo snorted and said, "I'm fine, well except for running around getting rid of hollows. Dad, Yuzu, and Karin are fine as well; matter of fact Dad told me to tell you that you need to come by to visit more often. Your fiancé has been driving me up the wall, and why the hell didn't you tell me that your Neko-Sensei was able to turn into a cat that sounds like a man?" At his last question, his left eye started to twitch and he scowled down at her glaring with his arms crossed over his chest.

Kushina grinned mischievously then laughed, "You never asked if she could turn into a cat. Why do you think I called Yoruichi-sensei, 'Neko' anyway? My Kisuke has been driving you up the wall, huh. My poor, poor Ichi-nisan." At her last sentence, she shook her head in mock commensuration as she led him to the kitchen.

Ichigo huffed in annoyance and mock glared at her. "So, what are you doing anyway?" As he asked that, he looked at her curiously. He asked that because he saw how the cupboards were open and how Sirius was looking at him curiously obviously wondering who this kid was.

She smiled at him, while walking over to the cupboard to get out several mixing bowls and utensils then she said, "well I just got done watching Tremors with Sirius and I'm about to make cookies as snacks for Tremors II. Moreover, some of my friends are coming over with their parents plus some other adults. I plan on sending Anubis to go lead them here; do you think you could answer the door when they do get here?" As she asked him that she pouted pleadingly at him. As she waited for his answer she got out the flour, butter, sugar, eggs, milk, spices, a large block of chocolate, pudding mix and several other ingredients.

He watched as she got out the ingredients then shrugged and said, "sure so long as I get some cookies and get to watch Tremors II, I love that movie." As he said that, he took the huge sword from his back and put it on top of the mantle.

She looked up at him then smirked and replied, "it's a deal then. I'll make you some cookies and you get to watch Tremors." As she said that, she started to mix the ingredients together.

At the same time as Sirius and Ichigo were watching Kushina make mint chocolate chip cookies, the Order of the Phoenix convened in their temporary headquarters, the kitchen of #12 Grimmauld Place. After several Order members gave their reports, Albus Dumbledore looked over his half moon glasses at Severus and Remus and asked them. "Did you perhaps have better luck with your search my boys?"

The two of them shook their heads, and Remus spoke, "no but we did find out some interesting information from a lead that Severus got. I suspect that Madame Bones would be most intrigued to hear it actually, but first we need to plan how to approach her about it. We will have two weeks to prepare due to the full moon. Since, Moony will be needed and the next full moon is not until the twelfth." As Remus was done speaking, a silver light shot into the room and stood before Severus.

To everyone's surprise it was a large male lion. In fact it was so large it practically made Hagrid seem normal sized. As they sat staring at it, it opened its mouth and they all heard Sirius' voice saying "Snape, you conniving slithering serpent, I'm staying where I am for now. I will be back in the morning around 8 o'clock, tell Dumbledore I will talk to him then. If he needs me back sooner than that, he better be ready to have me bring my godchild or he can come to us."

After the lion gave its message it rubbed its head against Severus, and made a small growling noise that almost sounded like a purr, at Remus. It then bowed its head to the Order and disappeared. Dumbledore raised his eyebrows in amazement; never in his life had seen a Patronus be so affectionate to someone before.

Severus looked at the headmaster and asked, "So do we wait and have them come here, or go to them?"

Albus folded his hands together, rested his chin on them and closed his eyes, clearly in deep thought. Finally, he opened his eyes and looked at the two men, "is the information you gathered important, or can it wait?"

Severus glanced toward Remus, "well the information is rather important, as well as time sensitive in a way. The information is about 13 and a half years old but if it were to be correct, it would give us an edge that Voldemort would never expect. However, I doubt the mutt would want to leave Harry behind and you have already stated that he must remain with his aunt for at least two more weeks." As he said that he crossed his arms over his chest and waited for Dumbledore's answer.

The headmaster hummed in thought, "well then it is fairly obvious what we have to do."

Minerva raised her left eyebrow, "and what exactly is that, Albus?"

Albus smiled enigmatically at her, "quite simple my dear Minerva. We go to where ever they are. Someone needs to send a Patronus to Sirius and have him send one back detailing how to get to their location if they are not at # 4 Privet Drive."

Severus and Remus looked at each other and Severus said to Remus, "I sent one earlier about the headmaster wanting to talk to him. You can send the next one." At that comment, most of the Order raised their eyebrows in shock. Snape send a message to Sirius? Impossible.

Remus raises his right eyebrow and snorts but casts the Patronus charm, "Sirius, the headmaster wishes to speak with you about an urgent matter. If you could please send us a Patronus with instructions on how to find you wherever you are if you are not at #4 Privet drive. The kids are looking forward to seeing _him _and so am I. Moony signing out." With that the large stag bowed its head toward its master and took off running.

Molly looked sharply at Remus, "what do you mean the kids are looking forward to seeing Harry. They aren't going with us and Harry doesn't need to hear whatever information you have. He is a child."

As Remus spoke his eyes flashed gold, "and you are not his mother Molly. I understand that you love Harry like one of your children, but he is not yours to coddle. To my wolf, Harry is the Cub of my Alpha and thus part of my _Pack_. As for the kids, would you honestly leave them here while we went to discuss this information? And anyways the information requires us to have his help as he is the only one besides the Dark Lord able to speak Parseltongue." As he said this to her, his voice had a growling undertone, as if to say 'do not dare mother my Cub.'

Molly opened her mouth, and then closed it with a click knowing that to a werewolf their packs are everything, especially the cubs, and he was right, she would not leave her children here by themselves.

Remus noticed that Severus was looking at him with his eyebrows raised, "What is it now Severus?"

"Nothing, I was just wondering how long your Patronus has been James Potter's animagus form." Severus said. "Also, weren't you just as against Harry's involvement at first until I pointed out that we would need that little ability of his?"

Remus frowns while replying, "What do you mean? My Patronus has always been a stag, much like Harry's Patronus. I actually found that somewhat ironic, I always saw James as a protector, ever since he first came to my rescue in our first year. I guess it just kept adding up when he became one of my best friends, then when he became an animagus to help with my transformations. Sirius told me recently that becoming an animagus had been James' idea. I think all of that added up over the years that I knew him and when I was taught the Patronus charm, it took his animagus form." Then with his eyes flashing, he snarled, "and of course I was against Harry helping. He is my Cub! The only Cub of my pack, my Alpha's only child."

Minerva looked up at Remus with her mouth open and her glasses askew, "That was James' animagus form? But it was huge, massive even; it's rack had to have been about 10 feet long from tip to tip."

Remus smirked at her and quipped, "Actually his rack was around 11 feet from tip to tip at the last measurement we took of it, which was about August 23 of 1979. Sirius and I also weighed him; James weighed almost half a ton then and was around 8 feet from the tip of his nose to the end of his tail." Remus shook his head while saying, "James' animagus form was absolutely massive in size, and it was really no wonder that my wolf considered him to be Alpha of our little pack of three."

Minerva furrowed her brow and while straightening her glasses, said, "what do you mean pack of three? I thought there were four of you."

Remus shook his head at her then commented almost nonchalantly, "my wolf did not truly consider Peter to be a part of the pack; he merely tolerated him so long as James did. If James were to have ignored Peter then my wolf also would have." Just as Remus finished his explanation a silver light comes streaking in and stood in front of Remus.

A somewhat large stag stood in front of him, it was recognizable to anyone who had seen it before. This Patronus belonged to Harry Potter. As it pawed the ground, it opened it's mouth and Harry's voice came out of it and said, "Professor Lupin or Remus, whichever one you want me to call you. According to Sirius, the headmaster knows where Privet Drive is so first apparate there. Then proceed to make your way to the neighborhood park, a friend of mine will meet you all there. He will have a pass code, your pass phrase is technically a pass question which is 'Will Anubis call his army to rise?' to which he will answer back 'Only if my lady commands it.' My friend is about Professor Snape's height with black hair and golden eyes, he is also very tan, so he should be fairly easy for you to spot. I highly recommend you to disguise yourselves before you apparate or use a portkey to Privet Drive so that the muggles do not notice you all coming in at once. Now if you will excuse me I have to go stop Sirius and Ichigo from eating the cookies before they are done cooling."

After delivering its' message, the stag bowed to both Severus and Remus then vanished into smoke. Shortly before the stag had delivered it's message, the kids had come downstairs in time to hear the message. Ron's face seemed to light up, "Harry made cookies! Yummy! His cookies are always delicious; I swear after he is done with school he could open a bakery and have everyone eating out of his hand by that alone." As Ron said that, the Twins also started drooling in remembrance of the cookies that Harry would give everyone.

Molly blinked in shock, "Harry can bake?"

That question shocked the kids out of their blissful remembrances and they stared at her in surprise. "Mrs. Weasley, Harry loves to both bake and cook. In fact, Harry will often sneak into the kitchens at Hogwarts and teach the house elves how to cook certain recipes. He also sneaks down there when he gets too stressed. As he told me once, 'baking and cooking is my therapy.' He literally forgets everything else when he is in the kitchen," lectured Hermione. After saying that, she rolled her eyes at the rest of the Orders' shock at the fact that the Boy Who Lived can cook. She then turned to the Headmaster and asked, "So when are we leaving and how are we getting there?"

Albus looked at the Order amusedly, he then turns to Hermione and says, "Well Ms. Granger, I believe that since so many of us are going it would be best if we took a portkey to Privet Drive. As for when we leave, I think we shall leave as soon as Molly comes out of her shock over the fact that young Mr. Potter can cook."

At his last comment Molly, looked at him and said while glaring, "You knew he could cook, Albus?"

"Of course I knew he could cook Molly. He often had Dobby bring me some of his creations if he knew I had not been to dinner. He would ask the house elves in the kitchen if I had eaten before he cooked and if I had not he would make something and send it to me." Albus looked almost wistful. "His cooking is very good; who ever he marries will be very lucky indeed."

Minerva looks at him in bemusement then teasingly asked, "that good, hmmm, Albus?" All he did was nod his head eagerly. He then proceeded to make a portkey and told everyone to touch it. As they did so, it whisked them away to a small park on a muggle street. They landed about five feet away from a set of swings. As they caught their equilibrium and those who had fallen to the ground got up, they heard someone clearing their throat behind them. Kingsley, Tonks and Moody all whirled around to face whoever it was; they saw a man with shoulder length black hair and golden eyes. He had a bemused look on his face, and Minerva stepped forward to ask him, "will Anubis call his army to rise?"

He smiled and replied, "Only if my Lady commands it."

Albus smiled then asked in an almost perky tone, "I would say that you would be here to take us to Sirius and Harry then?"

All the man did was nod and gesture for them to follow him. As they walked across the park to the gate leading to the street, Hermione made her way to the mysterious man's side. After watching her glance at him several times, he said, "Go ahead and ask your questions child, I do not bite." After he said that he paused slightly and then with a smirk said, "That is I do not bite unless I am asked to."

At that comment, Fred and George smirked in amusement. Hermione bit her lower lip then asked in rapid fire, "who are you? Why is Harry not at #4 Privet drive? And who is your Lady?"

All the questions seemed to amuse him, he merely smirked while his eyes glinted in amusement, "your friend was right that you would ask a lot of questions. Well in the order you asked, my name is Anubis. Harry has permission from a friend of his from before he started attending Hogwarts to use his house on the next street over to train in. In fact, he is there often during the weekends; the deal that they made is a good arrangement. Harry gets a place to get away from his family and Kisuke gets fresh baked cookies and homemade meals when he drops by. My Lady's name is Kushina and I guess you could call me one of her Protectors. I share that position with another man named Thanatos. Insufferable though he is, I cannot deny that he is very much devoted to our lady." He smiled wryly as he led them across the street.

Hermione's eyes gleamed knowingly then after several moments of quiet thought and was about to ask more questions when he spoke again, "and here we are. This is where I shall leave you, as I need to return to my Lady's side. Just knock on the front door and someone will answer." At the last part, he gave a shallow bow to them and walked away.


	4. Chapter 3: First Meetings

Chapter Three: First Meetings

The Order stood before a two-story house that was a pale cream color with light blue trim, the front garden looked well tended and there was a statue on either side of the front door. To the left of the door was a Jackal and to the right was a lion with wings - a Griffin. Hermione raised her right eyebrow at the guardians of the house, then confidently strode up to the door and promptly knocked on it. They all heard someone say, "Ichigo, can you go get the door?" Those who knew him recognized his voice at once; it was Harry's voice.

Three minutes later the door opened to an orange haired teenage boy who looked at her and said, "You must be Hermione. Harry has told me a lot about you, come on in, he is in the kitchen." He then beckoned them to follow him as he turned to the right through the dining room and into the kitchen, where they saw Harry smack Sirius' knuckles for trying to steal a cookie, after which they heard Harry scold Sirius.

They all heard him snap, "Leave those to cool Sirius, you and Ichigo got to lick the bowls." Harry then turned around and gasped in shock, "I didn't realize so many people would be coming. Looks like I'll have to make more cookies." He said, looking almost bemused.

Both Ichigo and Sirius pouted and whined at Harry's rebuke, "are any of them cool enough to eat yet?"

Harry rolled his eyes at them and replied, "Those on the table should be cool enough to eat." As the two went to go get some, they heard him say, "However, if you eat them all now you will not have any to eat during the movie."

When he said that, both of them looked as if he had told them that someone killed their dog. Then they both whined, "But Harry, we're starving."

Harry raised both eyebrows in shocked disbelief, "Sirius, you can not possibly be hungry. You ate just three hours ago; I can understand Ichigo being hungry. He was training before he got here."

As he said that he looked at his cousin for confirmation of his assumption, who merely nodded while commenting, "Yeah I was training with Zangetsu."

Sirius looked between them totally lost and asked, "Who is Zangetsu?" As he asked that, the Order nodded in agreement. They wanted to know as well.

Harry looked at the ceiling and then looked at the shocked group. He then asked them, "do you all remember meeting Anubis?" At their nods he continued, "Zangetsu is to Ichigo what Anubis and Thanatos are to Kushina. Which is to say, their friend, partner, confidant, and protector. They are their Zanpakuto, the guardians of their inner worlds."

Albus raised both of his eyebrows in shock, "inner world? What do you mean by that Harry?"

Harry looked at him and asked, "Do you know about the art of Occlumency, Headmaster?"

The Headmaster merely nodded while silently wondering how Harry knew about the art.

So Harry continued, "well the world that accomplished users of occlumency go to and sort their memories, is their inner world. Sometimes when someone is under enough stress or in great enough peril, they can end up in his or her inner world. When that happens, they can meet the guardians of that world, which in Ichigo's case is Zangetsu." As Harry was explaining, he was pacing the kitchen and making gestures with his hands as if to demonstrate the peril you would have to be in to even enter your inner world if you were not skilled in occlumency.

Harry ignored everyone's looks at his pacing as he continued his lecture, "Some people can hear their guardian right away; others take a long time. Kushina knew who her zanpakuto were the moment she saw them for the first time. Although that was due more to the fact that her Zanpakuto nudged her to be interested in mythology especially in the myths of the underworlds. Most consider Anubis to be a dark Egyptian god; as it is often he who has to collect fleeing souls. He usually sends out his Jackals to collect the souls that continue to evade all others. Due to his Jackal's viciousness and relentlessness, they are often considered to be a very dark breed. This in turn extends to his reputation; in fact, Kushina thinks he is rather sweet and kind. Thanatos was said to have been able to kill mortals just by touching them, Thanatos was often depicted having a shaggy beard, he also had piercing eyes and a pair of huge black feathered wings. He also carried a sword that turned into a scythe at will."

As Harry explained what they looked like Hermione nodded in agreement with him, and after a few looks from the twins whispered, "Harry is right, that is what some Muggles commonly believe those two gods look like." Thankfully for her and the twins Harry completely ignored their conversation, although a few of the adults had overheard it and some were wondering what else muggles believed about certain gods.

Harry checked to see if they were still with him, seeing that they were he continued to explain. "Anubis is often depicted either as a dark haired man with golden eyes and a dark complexion. Alternatively, as a man with the head of a Jackal, embalmers in ancient Egypt would often wear ceremonial Jackal head masks in his honor when mummifying a Pharaoh." As Harry explained about the embalmers some of the Order was confused, but Harry ignored their looks and continued to pace while he was doing so. Ichigo on the other hand was amused by their reactions.

Hermione once again explained to the Weasley kids in whispers, "Ancient Egyptians mummified their dead kings, the people who prepared the body of the king for burial were called embalmers. Muggles have embalmers who prepare the corpse of a loved one for burial, it is a belief of some that the body must be buried in sacred ground or the spirit of that loved one will wander the earth for eternity." At that many of the Order looked startled and wondered if that was the reason why there was hardly ever any muggle ghosts. During her explanation Harry continued to pace but stayed silent to allow her time.

After allowing Hermione to explain about Muggle burial practices, Harry continued, "There is a legend of the army of Anubis; it was once written that he rarely grants the ability to call his army to rise to a mortal."

Hermione nodded and asked, "isn't that the legend of the Oasis of Ahm Shere?" At Harry's nod, she stared at him then exclaimed, "But that is pure myth, no one ever found a trace of the Scorpion King. He was said to be the only one to have ever commanded Anubis' Jackal Army, many expeditions were launched in search of that Oasis, but it was never found and none of the expeditions launched ever returned." At her last sentence Bill stared at her and Harry in shock, even the goblins had launched searches for the Oasis only to be stopped by the old guards of the Pharaohs, the Medjai warriors, they were warned to turn back as the Oasis no longer existed.

Harry smirked and said, "actually the Oasis was found by a husband and wife along with their son. However, the Army of Anubis was called and as the Medjai fought to kill the Army, the Scorpion King's soul was finally laid to rest, the Army then went into slumber once again. After the King's soul was laid to rest the Oasis disappeared forever, not even the Medjai have seen it since."

Hermione stared at him shrewdly and asked, "how do you know this?" Indeed everyone, even Ichigo was staring at Harry in puzzlement as to how he knew this information.

Harry smiled sadly at them and said, "the sons name was Alexander O'Connell. He left a few books describing the adventure he went on at the age of six, I found them in the library of Hogwarts. They were hidden in a corner, he had wrote that he was be hiding them at Hogwarts because that was where he went to school, he even dared the finder of his books to discover which house he had been in."

Hermione cocked her left eyebrow at him and stated, "so that was why you were looking for the yearbooks of Hogwarts. You were trying to find out which house he was in." When Harry smirked at her and nodded, she asked exasperatedly, "so what house was he in?"

Harry laughed and said, "Slytherin, he was made prefect in his fifth year and Head boy in his seventh."

Albus smiled indulgently at the two and said, "correct my boy. Young Alex was indeed a snake, he was the Head boy after Riddle left school. One of the reasons I supported making him Prefect and Head boy was because he didn't trust Riddle, at all. In fact, he came to me with suspicions of Riddle being the one to have set the monster on Hogwarts, unfortunately neither he nor I had proof, as such our information and suspicions was disregarded."

After everyone looked at him in astonishment, he continued with, "I do believe he had a daughter with his spouse, he named her Cynthia, who later attended Hogwarts herself, only she was sorted into Gryffindor. Alex's only comment was, 'dear god, my daughter took after my Dad.' Alex's mother merely laughed and then consoled him with the thought that maybe she would meet someone who would love adventure." At his last sentence he smiled in fond remembrance of that conversation, and how Rick had spluttered indignantly that he was not that bad.

Albus continued on, "she was made Prefect in her fifth year and in the summer before her seventh year she went with her parents to a Dance held at the ministry. During the dance she was introduced to a man by the name of Adolf, who was an ambassador from France. It was love at first sight for them both, her parents just looked at one another and smiled, they knew you see, that there would be no one else for their daughter. Luckily for her, Adolf was just as taken by her as she was by him, as he had asked her about her childhood. The two ended up marrying in 1965, Cynthia bore him a son five years later, who like his mother was a Gryffindor." The Order gaped at the Headmaster in shock and amazement, they sometimes forgot how long he had been in charge of the school and thus often forgot that he knew some of their grandparents when they were children.

As he said that he glanced at Remus, chuckling, at the gob smacked look on the former professors face. It was clear to Albus that neither of Remus' parents ever shared how they met with their son, nor what house his grandfather had been in. Minerva smiled at her memories of both Remus' grandfather Alex and his mother, she had been delighted when her old friends Daughter and Grandson was sorted into her house.

After the headmasters long explanation, Harry continued, "Kushina is able to call forth the army. Anyone who thinks she is an easy target, quickly finds out otherwise, because the only way to kill an Anubis warrior is to cut off its head. And you have to get very, very close to do that. By then it is usually too late for anyone, in fact I pity anyone who tries to harm her as the Army is very protective of her." At that, Harry chuckled darkly. "As for what Zangetsu looks like I have no clue you'll have to ask Ichigo on that."

After Albus' long explanation and the anticlimactic ending of Harry's, Sirius turned toward Ichigo and asked while everyone was still in shock, "So what does he look like anyway?"

Ichigo rolled his eyes and said sardonically, "Well let me see if I can manifest her and you can see for yourself."

Sirius jaw dropped and he squeaked out, "her?"

In fact, most of the Order echoed him in that reaction, however Ichigo was not paying any attention instead he had walked over to the wall opposite the table and got the large sword that had been resting on the mantle of the fireplace. As he held it in his hands, it started to glow and then with a flash of light a dark shape appeared next to him.

It was a woman who was about 4 inches taller than him, with dark chocolate hair that hung down to about mid-shoulder blade length and her caramel eyes were hidden behind narrow yellow sunglasses, she wore close fitting pants, a white shirt with an ankle length black coat that flared out from her waist to her ankles. Her coat was tight fitting from her waist to her chin save for the v-neck opening of it, she did not display her cleavage like some women tended to do instead her coat covered her from about three inches below her collarbone.

After she looked at everyone in the kitchen, she turned toward Ichigo and looked at him while asking in a melodic voice, "why have you called me here Ichigo?" Ichigo merely smiled at her and handed her a cookie, as she took the cookie from him she sighed then turned toward Harry and stated more then asked, "he called me out to show me off didn't he?"

When Harry merely nodded at her, Zangetsu shrugged then walked over to the table, sat down and started to eat the cookie. Harry then turned to Sirius and asked, "so… Does that answer your question about what Zangetsu looks like?" All Sirius did was nod so Harry turned toward Professor Dumbledore and asked him, "What couldn't wait until morning?" As he asked that, he tilted his head slightly to the side.

Headmaster Dumbledore smiled at Harry and said, "actually it was Severus and Remus who had information that both you and Sirius need to hear. It apparently is somewhat time sensitive."

At his last sentence, Harry turned toward Ichigo and said, "looks like we might not get to the movie tonight. You want to hang around to see if we can watch it tomorrow?"

Ichigo swallowed the cookie he had been chewing and replied, "sure, Dad went to a medical conference. Yuzu and Karin just left for camp, so I can stay a while longer. All I had been planning on doing was training; right now, there are enough of us in Karakura town to handle the hollows. I just have to let them know I'm going to stay here for a couple of days."

Harry shrugged and gestured toward the mirror next to the fireplace and said, "just use the communication mirror. Press the top left corner for the Urahara shop." As everyone watched, Ichigo walked over to the mirror and did as he said.

They gaped in shock as the mirror showed a shop full of candy. In front of the mirror was a man wearing an outfit of green and white, even his hat was those two colors. The man snapped open a green and white striped fan then exclaimed while holding the fan in front of his mouth, "well hello Ichigo, I see you are in England at the moment. Do you need anything?"

Ichigo rolled his eyes but replied, "Hello to you too, hat and clogs. Can you tell Kon to come to Jackal's Lair with my gigai and his plushy body? Also can you tell the others I'm going to be gone for a few days?" As he asked those questions the Aurors of the Order were confused, 'what the hell was a gigai and what did Ichigo mean plushy body.' The rest of the Order shared their confusion about it, but the kids didn't as Harry told them about Soul Society and Ichigo's position in it.

"Sure thing Ichigo, actually if you want you can tell Rukia herself as she is in the store getting some Chappy candy." 'Hat and Clogs' replied while beaming happily.

Ichigo snorted but said, "Sure if she's already there I'll tell her. Do you want to talk to Harry?"

The man positively beamed and replied chirpily, "sure."

At that, Harry walked over to the mirror and smiled sweetly at the man, "hello Kisuke, how have you been lately? Well besides driving my cousin mad obviously." As Harry made the last statement he smiled at the man indulgently.

The man positively beamed at Harry and said, "Oh, nothing much, I have been having some trouble inventing lately. Do you have any ideas as to something I can make?" as he asked that he pouted slightly.

Harry smiled wickedly then slowly replied, "Oh, I might have one or two." As he said that he got a glint in his eyes that anyone that attended Hogwarts with him would have recognized, it meant usually meant that Harry had a devious idea. Even the twins would steered clear of Harry when he had that look unless Harry told them he needed their help to pull his idea off, then they would be in the thick of the plot.

Kisuke leaned forward a bit after snapping his fan closed and said with an eager glint in his eyes, "like what?" The twins glanced at each other then looked at their younger siblings and Hermione, it was clear they were sharing the same thought of 'thank god he is too old to be at Hogwarts or the school wouldn't be standing.'

Harry's eyes gained a slight mischievous twinkle to them as he said, "well, I actually got the idea from something that was invented by a group of pranksters. Have you thought of making a map that constantly updates itself to whatever area the person holding it is in and shows the people in that specific area? The map could be keyed to someone's Reiatsu that way only the one it is keyed to can use it." As he suggested that Kisuke closed his eyes and hummed thoughtfully as if contemplating how hard that might be to pull off.

Kisuke after giving it several long minutes of thought replied, "I might be able to work out something similar to what you're thinking of, I'll give it a shot anyway. Oh here comes Rukia, I better let her talk to Ichigo."

As they saw him move aside, Ron stared at the mirror at the girl who appeared, she was short with violet eyes and short black hair. She was looking at Ichigo curiously then asked, "Urahara-san said you wanted to tell me something Ichigo. What is it?" As she asked that she crossed her arms over her chest and scowled at Ichigo.

Ichigo rolled his eyes at her dramatics and said while scowling slightly, "I'm going to be spending a couple of days with my cousin. I wanted to let you know that you will not be able to find me in Karakura town. My sisters are at camp right now, so you will have the house all to yourself. If you do need me, just go through the training grounds under the shop, it is connected to the house I'll be staying in, okay?" As he talked to her he relaxed against the side of the island facing the mirror.

Rukia nodded in acknowledgement then replied, "Got it Ichigo. Moreover, if I need to talk to you face to face I will just come to the shop and use the mirror. Urahara-san told me how to work it. If you are not back by the time your dad gets home, what do I tell him?" She raised her eyebrows as she asked the last question.

Ichigo snorted then said, "Just tell him I went to visit Shina-Chan. He will know who I'm talking about." As he told her that, he looked amused. Then as Kisuke walked up, he said, "oi! Hat and clogs, let me know if Rukia's brother shows up." As he said that he got a nefarious look on his face that all but screamed 'I'm planning something.'

Kisuke snapped his fan open again then put it in front of his face once more while asking, "Why ever would you want to know if that happens, Ichigo?" He asked the question in almost a teasing way, as if he knew exactly why Ichigo wanted to be told if Byakuya showed up but wanted Ichigo to come out and say it.

Ichigo leaned back nonchalantly against the island, smirked and said, "So I can show up and annoy him. What else for." At his last comment, a black cat leapt up onto Kisuke's shoulder, and it seemed to raise its brow.

Then much to the Order's shock the cat spoke up saying, "I take it from your last comment, that you are still slightly angry at Byakuya for his actions?" As the cat spoke it was flicking the tip of its tail almost teasingly at fan held in front of Kisuke's face.

Rukia looked a bit exasperated, "Ichigo you cannot possibly still be mad at Byakuya-Nisama." As she spoke she looked at Ichigo somewhat pleadingly as if asking him not to be angry at her brother.

Ichigo stepped away from the island then said while looking at her in shock, "Rukia, he was going to let you be executed! And if the execution was stopped he was going to kill you himself!" As he spoke he gestured wildly as if to accentuate the severity of the crime the man committed.

Rukia blinked in shock at Ichigo's vehemence and then exclaimed, "He had a reason for that! Anyway he apologized to me for that, plus he let himself be injured to protect me from a killing blow." As she was saying this both the cat and Kisuke looked amused this was mostly due to the fact that she too started to gesture wildly and at her next comment. "Do I need to draw you a diagram of how he protected me?"

At that question Ichigo blanched and frantically shook his head while saying, "no, you don't need to draw a diagram as I was there. Remember Rukia?"

Ichigo then closed his eyes and a muscle in his jaw ticked, "the fact that he was torn between two promises and the fact that he apologized for his actions is all that is saving him from having the crap beaten out of him by me again. However, that will not stop me from doing things that annoy him. He nearly broke his promise to your sister, his own wife, a promise that he made to her on her deathbed. His parents never heard the promise he made to them but she had. Therefore, the promise he made to her held more weight in my opinion. Just accept the fact that right now it is my goal to annoy the heck out of your brother, okay Rukia?" As he was speaking Ichigo once again relaxed against the island, and when he asked his last question he stared her straight in the eyes as if to stress the importance of her answering yes to the question.

Rukia crossed her arms and looked to the side then looked back at him pouting, "Alright, just promise me you will forgive him soon? You are driving him absolutely crazy, you know." As she asked her question she look at him pleadingly, then as she spoke the last sentence she had an almost amused look on her face.

Ichigo smiles at her gently, "don't worry Rukia, I'll forgive him eventually. As long as he keeps doing what he's been doing. The more he protects you when you need it, the more I will forgive him. Just don't go putting yourself in danger so he can rescue you, got it?" As he spoke the last question he glared at her sternly.

Rukia laughed and said as she playfully saluted him, "alright understood. I won't even tell him why you call him by his first name and do other things that annoy him. He thinks you are not doing it on purpose."

Yoruichi laughed, "That's what is so funny about it. Byakuya-boy does not even realize that Ichigo is doing it deliberately. Ichigo, while you are with your cousin, make sure that both of you practice at shunpo."

Ichigo held up both of his hands and replied, "Alright I will, but I make no promises. Think you can train the others for me?"

The cat nodded and replied, "Sure, it should not be that hard. However with the loss of his powers, Uryu is slightly weakened."

Harry stepped forward and asked, "Uryu is the Quincy, correct?" At Yoruichi, Kisuke's, Rukia's and Ichigo's nods he continued. "And Orihime's powers can reverse damage, right?"

Ichigo nodded and looked somewhat annoyed, "yeah they can. But what does that have to do with Uryu's powers?"

Harry slapped Ichigo upside the head and said, "Orihime, can use her powers to reverse the damage done to by him due to him taking the glove off, she can heal Uryu thus allowing him the use of his powers again."

At that statement, all four of their jaws drop and they chorused, "Why did I not think of that!" As they spoke they slapped their foreheads in exasperation.

Harry shrugged and replied sardonically, "too close to the problem. Sometimes it takes the perspective of an outsider."

Ichigo nodded then right before he pressed the circle again he paused and turned to Harry, "hey, didn't you say that the parents of a friend of yours were injured during the aftermath of the last war?"

Harry nodded and asked while looking confused, "yeah, why?"

"Well, if Orihime can reverse the effects of Uryu's injury, then she might be able to heal your friend parents." Ichigo told him with an eye roll. During their conversation the order members looked a bit confused but then it dawned on them that the pair was talking about Alice and Frank Longbottom. As the idea of the Longbottom's being healed dawned on them they looked almost relieved as they had been not only staunch members of the order but two of the best Aurors the department had seen next to Sirius Black and James Potter. In fact the four had been taught by none other than Alastor Moody.

Harry let a slow smile cross his face, "you're right, she might be able to do it."

Sirius raised both eyebrows and asked, "For those of us not in the know… What the hell are you two talking about?"

Harry and Ichigo turned to each other then them and Ichigo spoke, "Orihime has a power which, when used is able to heal, defend and attack. However, the strength of those powers is affected by her belief in herself. If she believes it, she can heal the wound or injury she can. If she believes she can block the attack, then she can. If she believes she can wound or kill something, then she can. However her will to hurt and kill was not very high. That is until she was told to consider using Tsubaki not as a way to maim and kill but instead as a way to protect. Sometimes to protect someone you must kill or hurt another to do so."

Ichigo then sighed and turned toward Harry, "thanks for that by the way. She was able to defend herself and Rukia against the Bounts better that way. She has been training using Tsubaki so she has managed to evolve his powers a bit. Chad also took some comfort in your words and he managed to transform his other arm as well."

Rukia looked shocked and exclaimed, "you gave her and Chad the belief that they needed to become stronger!" She then whistled lowly, "wow, I thought for sure that Ichigo would keep passing them up and with Orihime healing Uryu, then the next thing that comes at us should be easier to handle. Got any tips for me?" She asked the last question jokingly.

Harry cocked his head to the side and replied, "Well, I would say work on gaining your Bankai. No one would expect an unseated officer to be able to use a Bankai even if you are from a noble house." As Harry suggested this he leaned next to Ichigo against the island while both Sirius and Zangetsu looked amused at the Orders' shock at his advice to this young girl. They were a little surprised that a girl that young was an officer, of whatever she was an officer of.

Rukia's jaw dropped, and then she stuttered out, "I'll do that. Ichigo, do you want me to call you once Orihime has finished healing Uryu?"

Ichigo looked at Harry in askance, then turned back to Rukia and told her, "nah, why don't one of you escort her here. Yoruichi should know the way by now, right?" His last question was directed toward Yoruichi who merely nodded. "Alright, well I should see everyone in a few days. Bye Rukia, take care."

Rukia smiled at him and whispered, "see you later Ichigo."

Ichigo then reached up, pressed the circle, and said, "Disconnect." The mirror once again goes black then reflects the kitchen once more.

All of the Order heard a thunk sound from the direction of the stairs; in fact, it seemed to come from directly underneath Kingsley's feet. Kingsley raised his eyebrows, however before he could ask, Ichigo told him to move. He also said, "It's just Kon." After Kingsley moved out of the way the floor he was standing on flies up and slams into the floor, it was plain to see that it was a trap door. A boy looking identical to Ichigo, only he was wearing jeans and a tee shirt, he was also carrying a backpack, climbed up holding a lion plushy. Ichigo frowned at him and said, "About time you got here Kon, did you bother to bring my badge?"

Kon looked at him and glowered, "quit complaining Ichigo, its bad enough I have to pretend to be you sometimes. Although why you wanted me to bring your badge I'll never know." As he continued to climb up, he grumbled in complaint.

Ichigo raised his left eyebrow, "well, Kon if you rather I use you, I'll be glad to do so. I just thought you would have appreciated being able to get out of the house for a bit. Plus I thought you might want to try some more of my cousin's cookies."

Kon jerked his head up and exclaimed, "Cookies! You mean the ones that I had about a week ago! Those absolutely wonderful types of cookies?"

Ichigo looked amused, "yes Kon, those cookies."

Much to everyone's shock he raced up the rest of the ladder tossed both the backpack and plushy at Ichigo and raced into the kitchen. Whereupon he stopped in front of Harry, pouts, and said in a pleading tone, "can I have a cookie, oh baker of great delights?"

Harry looked amused and replied, "Sure the ones on the table are cool enough to eat." To everyone's amusement, he gave a beaming grin and shot over to the table, sat next to Zangetsu, who he greeted, then promptly ate three cookies in quick succession. Harry then turned toward the Order and said, "Well best move these discussions out to the dining room. I do not exactly have that much room in my kitchen. Who all will be at this meeting of yours anyway?"

Headmaster Dumbledore looked at Harry and replied, "I believe that all of the people in the house can attend if they wish. As you should attend the meeting and seeing as how you would more than likely tell Miss Granger and Mr. Weasley anyway they should also be at the meeting. While Fred and George Weasley are both of age and may attend, should they wish? I believe only Ginny would be unable to attend and Miss Granger would probably tell her anyway. If you consider your cousin and his friends trustworthy I see no reason as to why they can not join us." The Order goggled at the Headmaster in shock, at his suggestion that he trusted Harry's judgment implicitly, the only other ones with that amount of the Headmasters trust was Minerva, Alastor, Severus, Remus and Sirius.

Harry looked at his headmaster and said in a solemn voice, "I would trust them with Hermione, Ron, Remus and Sirius' lives." It was plain from the look on his face that he was deadly serious about the amount of trust that he held for them. Minerva was a bit startled at how much Harry trusted this Ichigo and Zangetsu.

Remus raised both of his eyebrows in shock but smiled at Harry, "that is a very ringing endorsement. As you would risk your life to protect them, after all you nearly lost your soul trying to protect Sirius."

Harry shrugged and said back, "that's just how much I trust them. Or rather how much I trust Ichigo's judgment." He then stared at them and said, "I thought we were moving to the dining room people." At that, they all jumped in shock. He then turned to Ichigo and asked him, "So are the three of you joining us?"

Ichigo looked at Zangetsu and Kon, and raised his eyebrows in askance. Kon and Zangetsu looked at each other and Kon said, "nah, I'll stay here, eat some more cookies." However, Zangetsu got up from the table and went to Ichigo's side, making it clear from her actions that where Ichigo went so would she.


	5. Chapter 4: Meetings of a Serious Nature

Chapter Four: Meetings of a Serious Mature

Harry led them out into the dining room, which was located at the front of the house across from the living room/den. After the table there was enlarged by Albus to fit twenty people at comfortably as well as strengthening it. All of them choose a chair; however before they sat down, they all heard a knock on the trap door. Ichigo walked over to it and opened it to reveal a teenage girl with light red hair and gray eyes. She smiled at him and said, "Hello Ichigo. Uryu told me to tell your cousin thanks for thinking of having me heal him. I don't know why I didn't think of it myself to be honest." She then looked past him and exclaimed, "Oh my I didn't know you were having a meeting. I could go back if you want."

Harry shook his head and said while looking at Ichigo, "if Ichigo trusts you. You can stay maybe you might come up with solutions we have not."

Orihime tilted her head to the side, looked at Zangetsu, and asked, "Who are you?"

Zangetsu chuckled and said, "I am not surprised you do not know who I am. I rarely come outside of Ichigo's inner world. I am Ichigo's zanpakuto, Zangetsu."

Orihime gave them a beaming smile and hugged Zangetsu while she said, "It's nice to finally meet you Zangetsu. You must be really strong, to have been able to defeat both Kenpachi's sword and Senbonzakura." As she said that her eyes widened in astonishment and as she blinked innocently up at Zangetsu, the Order gaped in confusion while the kids rolled their eyes at the adults behavior.

Zangetsu gaze went slightly out of focus and she said, "It was not really that hard to beat Kenpachi and his sword. Kenpachi refused to listen to his swords voice; Ichigo and I were able to beat him because we worked together as one. Kenpachi and Sekhmet were at odds because Kenpachi refuses to heed her advice and will not listen to her voice." As she stated that she shook her head sadly, then said as she gazed fondly at her wielder, "it would be hell for me if Ichigo could not hear me nor know my name."

Ichigo blinked in shock at his zanpakuto, "you know Kenpachi's zanpakuto's name!" After that exclamation he blushed slightly as he smiled fondly at his Zanpakuto, "I know it would hurt you if I couldn't hear you, after all it caused you so much pain when I had forgotten your name."

Zangetsu looked to the side at the memory of Ichigo not remembering her, then nods and responds to his first statement, "yes while we were healing from our wounds that we got while fighting Senbonzakura and Byakuya. I wandered over to the Eleventh division and talked with her. The reason he cannot hear her is the fact his Reiatsu is so wild, I think that to be able to talk to her he is going to have to use a device like the one you used to gain Bankai. He has already earned her respect and devotion but since he does not know her name, he cannot hear her over his own power. Once he knows her name he should be able to hear her." She smirked at Ichigo and Orihime then stated somewhat sinisterly, "imagine what a Bankai wielding Kenpachi would be like against Aizen and his men."

Ichigo and Orihime both gulp in fear, then after several moments of thought looked at each other and grinned. After all if Kenpachi could beat most people without even knowing his swords name what would he be like if not only could he hear it but had achieved Bankai. Ichigo then raised his eyebrow at Zangetsu and asked, "Couldn't someone tell him her name for her?"

Zangetsu shook her head, "no he must hear it from her mouth alone."

Ichigo gained a look of realization then after crossing his arms over his chest thought for several moments he then said, "Huh, I guess I'll suggest it to him when I see him next, 'cause he really wants to know her name. I think it's because he knows what it is like to be without a name." Ichigo contemplated aloud.

Harry snorted and said while raising his left eyebrow, "well as fascinating as this conversation is, shall we get to the meeting?"

The three looked a bit sheepish at that admonishment, and chorused together, "right." After saying that the three took seats at the table. Going along one of the short ends of the table was Severus then Sirius, then Harry, and finally Remus. To Remus' left was Tonks, then Ichigo and Zangetsu who sat on the arm of Ichigo's chair, then Charlie, then Bill, then Arthur, and finally Molly. To Molly's left was Kingsley, and next to him was Alastor Moody, by him was Albus Dumbledore and next to him was Minerva McGonagall. To Minerva's left was Hermione. Then after them sat Fred who sat next to George. Beside George was Ron who was next to Ginny. Finally Orihime who sat between Ginny and Severus.

Orihime looked around and asked, "So what is this meeting about anyway?" As she asked that she had a confused look on her face.

At that question, all of the Order members turn to Remus and Severus, and Albus said, "well boys, it is your information. What is it that you learned?"

At that last, question both Severus and Remus, look at each other. Remus asked him, "so where do we start?"

Severus sighed and said, "I suppose it starts when you sent me up to get Sirius for that meeting earlier. Although technically the story actually started in 1976 during our fifth year." At that, Minerva and Albus look confused, which of course meant that the rest of the order was completely lost.

Albus asked while looking puzzled, "what do you mean by that Severus?"

Severus looked a bit uncomfortable, then glanced at Sirius who rolled his eyes and said, "Don't worry I explained about it to Harry and made Harry swear not to tell anyone."

Severus who seemed to be relieved sighed and started to explain, "The fight between me and Lily was staged. Lily and I continued to be friends in secret, as the other Slytherins were pressuring me to become a death eater, the two of us got together and decided that the light needed a spy in the inner circle. Seeing, as Lily was muggleborn she would never be accepted into the ranks, however I could get in despite being a half-blood. Both Lily and I were very good at potions, as you would recall. Hence why we knew I would be accepted where she would not."

Minerva stared at him from over her eyeglasses, "you planned to join the death eaters to be a spy? You planned this with Lily ever since your fifth year?" She looked as if someone had smacked her with a very large fish.

Severus' lips twitched in amusement at the look on her face but nodded and continues, "I continued to integrate myself into the future death eaters at Hogwarts. During our last year at Hogwarts, Lily was asked by James to help him cast a charm and brew a potion. The type of potion needed required two brewers so Lily let James in on our little secret. In return, I promised to keep my mouth shut on why he needed the potion and spell. The Potion itself required a month and a half to brew. James made me one of _Harry's _godfathers when _he_ was born, the other being Sirius of course. Due to Sirius being one of _Harry's_ godfathers, we decided to let him in on our secret of me being one of Lily's spies. All that her spies knew about the others was that there was more than one of us." Very few in the room caught the stressing of Harry's name, in fact the only ones that noticed were Ichigo, Orihime, the twins, Ginny and Moody. Of course the only ones that had noticed and knew exactly why he was stressing it was Harry, Hermione, Ron, Remus, Sirius, Ichigo and Orihime.

The Order members were in shock, they had known that Lily had a spy in the death eater camp, but they did not know she had more than one. Minerva whispered, "Go on Severus."

Severus took a deep breath then once again began, "in September of 1980 both Lily and James were tired of me and Sirius arguing and locked us in a room that allowed no aggression. The room also forced us to speak the truth and only the truth; the room also had a version of a babbling charm on it. Therefore, we ended up burying the hatchet, as muggles would say. Around the beginning of October of 1981, all of Lily's spies heard murmurings in the death eaters, that Voldemort suspected one of the inner circle to be a spy for the light. Lily only had one spy in the inner circle and that was me, after two weeks of discussing it Lily agreed to put a memory charm on me. The charm made me forget that the fight was staged, that _Harry _was my godchild; I had forgotten that I had buried the hatchet with Sirius and James, and I forgot about being a spy. Lily put a few small compulsions in the memory charm, one was to avoid using a certain nickname of mine for Sirius, the second was to go to Albus to be a spy in a few days after the charm, and the last was to avoid certain spots in my quarters. Lily linked the charm to break only under two circumstances I made sure that Lily would not tell anyone what those key things were. The first was what caused the memory charm to break after almost fourteen years of it staying up. When I entered Sirius' room to see if he was in there I found a box that was partially open on his desk. At the top of the pile of papers in the box was a letter addressed to me from Sirius, in the letter he mentioned the first key that would break the memory charm."

Albus raised his eyebrows and asked, "and what was that my boy?"

Severus took a deep breath then said, "It was a phrase that only I used for Sirius'. It was after we settled our differences that I would often called him a 'silly mutt' he put that in his titles at the end of his letter." At that, he looked up and all of the Order members could see the anguish in his eyes, "I nearly let Sirius lose his soul, if the memory charm had worn off I could have told you that there was no way in hell he could have betrayed Lily and James. Both of us swore the In Parentes Locus Oath." At that sentence, they all gasped in shock that was the highest oath a godparent could give a child.

Remus then took over the telling of the story, "as you may remember earlier in the evening Severus came back downstairs holding a letter addressed to me."

Molly nodded, "yes he was when you asked him who the letter was from he said Potter. I asked if it was from Harry, but all he said in return was 'Wrong Potter', just what had he meant by that."

Remus took a deep breath and said, "The letter was from James dated Oct. 29th of 1981. James decided to leave a Just-In-Case letter behind for me. He must have sent it to Sirius to hold onto until his death or incapacitation however Sirius was put in jail and it never got to me. That is until Severus read the letter from Sirius and noticed mine hidden under another letter. Well as you all know, I went up to my room to read the letter, after I was done Severus walked in the room and asked if James finally let me in on a few secrets. When I told him yes, and after we discussed the secrets in length, Severus remembered what the other circumstance for him remembering was. The thing is if history is right then his memory charm should have broke the night of Oct. 31, 1981." As Remus stated that he looked a bit distressed, running his fingers through his gray streaked hair and pinching the bridge of his nose.

Both Minerva and Albus along with Sirius, raise an eyebrow, and Sirius asks, "And just why is that, Remus?" As he asked that he seemed a bit apprehensive, indeed almost tentative. His eyes were filled with worry, and his brow drawn tight, he was also frowning slightly.

Remus looked over _Harry's_ head into his eyes and said directly, "Because the only other way the charm could have broken was Lily's death." After he stated that he leaned back into his chair as if he just had a great weight lifted from him.

At Remus' last sentence; there was a great clamor with everyone talking at once. Sirius' jaw was hanging while Ichigo's eyebrows were almost touching his hairline. Finally, Albus caused a bang from his wand and called everyone back to order. He then looked Remus in the eye and asked, "What did you do after that Remus?"

Remus looked down then after raising his head, swallowed and spoke, "I remembered that no one has been able to enter 'Lion's Cottage' since the attack and _Harry _crossed the threshold of the house. The wards were very specific, only a few people could cross the ward boundaries once there were no Potters in the residence. However even dead bodies counted as Potter's, at least until the bodies turn to dust. More then that, however is what Harry remembers about that night, which is what was most important." Ichigo and Orihime looked at each other at Remus' stressing of Harry's name.

Harry turned to Remus and asked, "Why is that?" As Harry asked that he raised his left eyebrow in askance.

Remus smiled down at his cub, "it is important because you only heard one Avada Kedavra not two. If Voldemort had used the killing curse on Lily, you should have heard it twice. Not to mention you would not have been able to hear her scream, she would have had no time to scream as close as Voldemort had gotten to her."

Harry and several order members gained a look of comprehension.

Remus smiled and said, "Exactly, that combined with Severus' memory charm not breaking until now…points to only one conclusion, that there was the faintest slimmest chance that Lily is still alive. And if it was possible for her to still live then James might be alive as well."

Albus looked curious and asked, "How did you come to that conclusion Remus?"

Remus looked bemused and said, "ever since that night my wolf has been pacing in my mind and every full moon after that night I have found myself over forty miles from my starting point. That was every full moon without fail, my wolf is desperate to get to something, and it is only when I take the wolves' bane potion that I can ignore him. The second thing that convinced me was the fact that every time the thought of how much I miss James comes in my mind, my wolf growls that if I miss him so much why then don't I just go find him."

Severus took over, "he told me that his wolf seem convinced that James was still alive out there. That all that had to be done was find him, Remus commented that he needed to know if his wolf was right. Both of us decided the easiest way to find out would be to go to the 'Lion's Cottage' so right after I sent a message to Sirius telling to either stay put or head back to Grimmauld Place we left for Godric's hollow. In the middle of the town was the most disgusting thing I had ever seen." As he said that, he sneered in revulsion.

Remus then took control of the story, "let's just say this Sirius, if James is alive he is going to be pissed at whoever put that statue up in the middle of town."

Sirius raised his eyebrows at them in askance, Remus then elaborated, "it was a statue of James, and Lily holding baby Harry."

Sirius winced in sympathy, "oh, I pity whoever put that statue up; if James is alive he is going to make them wish it was Voldemort after them and not him." At that statement, all of the order looked shocked. Sirius waved his hands frivolously, and said in a haughty voice, "continue."

Remus smirked at his antics and said, "The two of us went into the yard and proceeded cautiously. However, Merlin only knows why. The wall between the Living room and the Study was completely collapsed, and James wand lay only at most three inches from it. From the look of it, it was no wonder Hagrid thought James to be dead, after Severus checked the Kitchen and dining room the two of us cast Reparo. After the wall and furniture were repaired there was no body under the rubble and we checked the Study as well before heading upstairs it was also devoid of a body."

Severus took over, "we then proceeded to head up the stairs to the second floor, and we checked both of the guest rooms both were fine. There was no damaged done to them at all. We then made our way to the nursery after checking the master bedroom, which was devoid of a body however; the wall between the nursery and the master bedroom was collapsed. In the nursery Lily's wand was only inches away from the collapsed dividing wall between the two rooms."

Remus chimed in saying, "after we cast Reparo once again. We discovered why Moldy Voldy has been having such awful luck for the past fourteen years." The Order members that hadn't known Remus during his school days gaped in shock at his playful tone.

Sirius looked at him amused and asked, "Why is that?"

Remus smirked at him and said, "Simple he smashed the two mirrors hanging on the wall dividing the two rooms on either side of the door." He leaned back into his chair and watched as what he just said dawned on the ones who were familiar with muggle superstitions.

Harry, Hermione, Orihime, Ichigo and Sirius's lips twitch, then all five burst out laughing, and Harry managed to gasp out, "you mean Voldemort broke two mirrors and with them combined made fourteen years bad luck?" Remus smirked and nodded his head.

Arthur looked at them and asked, "What are you laughing at?" The balding red head looked confused.

After Harry calmed his breathing, he told them all, "in the muggle world it is believed that if you break a mirror you will get seven years of bad luck and if you break more than one they will add up. You would think someone so terrified of death would be a little more superstitious." With that Harry burst out laughing again.

Remus laughed and said, "That's what I said as well."

After they all calmed down and caught their breath, Severus continued, "I mentioned to Remus that although this proved that their bodies were not there it did not prove that they still were alive."

Remus cut in with, "I agreed with him of course. However, it is more than sufficient proof for Amelia Bones to open an investigation into their disappearance and/or death. She would be willing to listen especially with Severus' memory as proof that Lily placed a memory charm on him that should have broke with her death. Seeing as how it did not, she might be willing to lend a few Aurors to follow me during the full moon."

Albus asked while looking confounded, "follow you? Why would we need to follow you?"

Remus smiled and said, "Because my wolf seems to think he knows where James is at. I plan to apparate around to find an approximate location, then on the night of the full moon transform as close as I can get to the area. Albus, James was the Alpha of our pack, my wolf will stop at nothing to get to him, and our pack is currently separated from our Alpha. Sirius can come along in his animagus form to help keep my wolf in line same with Severus."

Minerva raised one of her eyebrows, "what do you mean 'same with Severus'? Severus doesn't have an animagus form." She said skeptically.

Severus smirked and said, "Actually Minerva, I do in fact have an animagus form. Lily had one as well; the two of us gained our forms in seventh year with James help. Both of us were of the Feline family."

Minerva blinked in astonishment and then asked, "Can I see your form? Because I just don't see how a cat could keep a werewolf in line."

At that, Severus glanced to his left at Sirius who smirked, then Severus stood from his chair and smoothly transformed into a huge lion, with a lanky body and a black mane. He jumped up on the table, it had been a good thing that Dumbledore had reinforced it, and prowled toward Minerva. Once he reached her, he laid down on his stomach and gave a rolling growl that almost sounded like a purr. After she reached up and patted him on the snout, and Albus scratched behind his left ear, he got up and walked back to the other side of the table. Once there he transformed back into a man and slid back into his chair then he said, "Still think I cannot keep a werewolf in line Minerva?"

She shook her head and replied, "No, you definitely can keep a werewolf in line. What was Lily's animagus form?"

Severus smiled sardonically and said, "Would you believe her form is larger than mine?"

At that statement, everyone's jaws drop and they stare in shock. Then Fred and George managed to stutter out, "bigger than you!"

All Severus did was nod with a wry smile on his face and said, "Yeah I researched big cats during the past fourteen years although at the time I didn't know why. You see neither Lily nor I could find our animagus forms in any books, all that we knew was that at the age of seventeen my animagus form was already larger then a male African Lion. I just recently found out what we were, I am what have been commonly referred to as a Cave Lion."

At that Hermione exclaimed, "No wonder you're so large, they hunted the mega fauna of their time. They could grow to be up to eight feet long from nose to tail and some of the rarer specimens could actually be nine feet long. It is believed that they could weigh upwards to eight hundred pounds or more!"

Severus smirked and said, "Correct Miss Granger, if we were in school I would award twenty points to Gryffindor. Lily animagus form Latin name is Panthera Leo Atrox or more commonly known as…" he trailed off looking expectantly at Hermione.

Hermione took a breath and then started her explanation. "The Panthera Leo Atrox is more commonly known as the American Lion as its fossils are found only in America, both north and south. The American lion could reach upwards to one thousand pounds and could reach a length of thirteen feet from nose to tail. Although it is called a lion most believe it to be more closely related to the tiger family." She then looked at Severus.

Severus nodded his head and said approvingly, "correct once more Miss Granger. By 1981, Lily's animagus form was already eleven feet long from nose to tail and still growing, she weighed about eight hundred and sixty-three pounds. Even James animagus form was not a normal deer, his form is what was once referred to as the Irish elk. An Irish Elk once full grown could weigh half a ton and its rack alone could weigh one hundred pounds and measure twelve feet from tip to tip."

Remus took over and said, "of course he still wasn't full grown by Oct. 31, 1981. It is not so surprising that James was able to keep my wolf in line nor is it too surprising that my wolf considered him its Alpha."

Harry raised an eyebrow, looked at Remus, and asked him, "So why did I need to hear this beside the fact my parents might still be alive?"

Remus sighed and glanced at Severus then said, "The reason why you need to know besides that its Lily and James is the fact you are a Parselmouth."

Orihime looked confused and asked naively, "why is that so important?"

Severus looked at her and explained, "The Dark Lord would keep prisoners sometimes. However the prisons he would keep them in all had passwords in Parseltongue, if a death eater had to go get a prisoner the Dark Lord would send a snake with them. If James and Lily are in one of those prisons, we are going to need _Harry's_ help to get them out. Especially if we wish to remain undetected, I do not believe that Voldemort remembers that they are there if they are indeed still alive."

Albus looked at them and asked, "So what is your plan, my boys?"

Severus looked at him and said, "Isn't it obvious? We wait two weeks until the next full moon and hope to follow Remus' wolf directly to Lily and James. While we are waiting Remus will apparate around to get the possible location in his mind. While he is off doing that we go to Amelia Bones with what evidence we have and see if she will lend us the use of her Aurors that night."

Harry nodded in agreement before saying, "That is true, however have you considered that you can easily clear Sirius' name now?"

Sirius looked at Harry puzzled, "what do you mean by that?"

Harry rolled his eyes and said, "Simple Sirius, you and Severus swore the In Parentes Locus Oath. The memory of that plus the memory of what happened in the shrieking shack, and if they also accept my memory of Voldemort's resurrection that should prove, that Peter Pettigrew is still alive. That should be enough to grant him a questioning by Amelia Bones, seeing as how Sirius never received a trial in the first place."

Kingsley raised his eyebrows in shock, "you never received a trial Sirius?"

Sirius shook his head and replied, "No, Crouch was convinced I was guilty. Therefore, he sent me off to Azkaban the same day I was arrested. Truth is I woke up from the stunners in Azkaban."

Kingsley smiled slyly, "that is perfect."

Moody chuckled darkly and said, "You are right that is perfect."

Minerva looked at them annoyed and snapped, "and just why is that perfect?"

Kingsley and Moody look at each other and then Kingsley says, "Simple if a trial was never granted to Sirius then we do not have to involve the Wizengamot as there will be no retrial. All that has to be done to grant Sirius a questioning by the Head of the DMLE is sufficient evidence that he may not be guilty as first believed. Which thanks to the memories of Harry, Remus, and Severus and if they are willing Hermione and Ron, we will have more than sufficient evidence that he is innocent of the charges laid against him." Kingsley leaned back into his seat and gave everyone a smug smile.

Ron and Hermione glances toward the other and chorused, "We'll do it!"

Remus smiled and said, "Then it is decided. I, Severus, Harry, Hermione, Ron and Sirius in his animagus form will accompany Kingsley to Madam Bones with proof that Sirius did not receive a trial. As soon as we have proven Sirius' innocence of the crime he was accused of we present the evidence that James and Lily may not be as dead as first believed. It is too bad that more of the order is not capable of transforming into an animagus, we could probably use a few more to make sure my wolf does not get over excited by all the humans around." At that he looked a bit sad and regretful.

Most of the Order looked at him puzzled, and Molly asked, "What do you mean Remus?"

Remus looked slightly pained, "although I am going to be taking the Wolves Bane potion, in order for my wolf to be able to lead me to James I am going to need to let it out a bit more than usual." Unnoticed by the adults, Ron, Hermione and Harry were exchanging guilty looks.

Ichigo noticed the looks between his cousin and Ron and Hermione. He then asked them, "Alright what is with those guilty looks between you three?"

At that, all three started and the adults looked at them, then once Sirius saw the slightly guilty looks on their faces, he started laughing. Remus looked at him puzzled and asked him, "What the hell are you laughing at Sirius?"

After Sirius got his breathing and laughter under control, he managed to gasp out, "they're animagus' Remus."

Remus shot all three a look that clearly asked if Sirius was right. Harry took a deep breath and said, "After I found out that my dad and Sirius became animagus' to help you with your transformation. Me, Ron and Hermione decided to do the same, Hermione started researching over the summer between third and fourth year. However it was not until late into fourth year we found out our forms and another Gryffindor from our year joined us in the endeavor."

Minerva raised her left eyebrow at Harry and asked, "Which other Gryffindor joined you in this reckless endeavor?"

Hermione winced and said, "Neville, Professor McGonagall."

Minerva took a deep breath through her nose and asked, "What are your animagus forms, Miss Granger?"

Ron spoke up and said, "I'm a Tiger. Bengal to be specific although I am still young."

Hermione went next and said, "I am a Amur Leopard and Neville is a Dire Wolf."

Harry went last and said while wincing, "I have two animagus forms, one is a Cheetah and the other is a magical animal."

At that statement, all of the order looked like they had just been smacked with a dead fish. Albus managed to ask, "What is the magical animal, my boy?"

Harry looked down and said, "It is a Celestial Dragon."

At that statement Remus stared down at Harry in shock, he then asked them, "have any of you achieved your animagus forms?" At his question all three bit their lower lips and nodded.

Hermione then proceeded to say, "Harry found a potion by Salazar Slytherin written in Parseltongue that allowed you to become one with your inner beast or in Harry's case inner beasts. Since snakes cannot lie nor can a lie be written in Parseltongue, we knew that the potion was safe and it did not take very long to brew nor did it require that difficult of ingredients to obtain. In fact Neville gathered all of the plants needed and Ron got the animal ingredients and Harry retrieved the last necessary ingredient required for it."

Severus raised both eyebrow and asked, "And just what ingredient was that?"

Harry looked at his other godfather and said, "Basilisk venom from a basilisk at least thirty years old."

Severus looked at him and said, "And just where did you find that? It is not like you can just find it lying around." He gave his godchild a stare that said, 'tell me now!'

Harry gave a small smirk and replied, "Actually that is how I got it." At the look on Severus' face he hurried to explain, "I found it in the Chamber of Secrets. I knew I could find the venom down there as the monster of the legend is a Basilisk and when I rescued Ginny, I killed it. Moreover, seeing as how one of its fangs was still intact I knew that it still had some venom left. I collected the little bit required for the potion and there is still plenty left over. I was going to approach you this year and ask if you wanted to dissect the body for ingredients."

Severus calmed down slightly and replied, "thank you. I would like to do so when you have the time this upcoming year."

Harry nodded at him in agreement and motioned to Hermione to take up the tale. She then took a deep breath and said, "Like I said the other three gathered the ingredients required and I brewed the potion. Harry had found a ritual in the same book as the potion that would allow up to four people to share their animagus forms with one another. After much discussion, the four of us decided to try it. The tricky part of the ritual is that it had to be done at the same time as you drank the potion that way the others also got the instincts of the animal involved. Although it had been rather difficult to time, we managed it and all of us ended up with five animagus forms. However, our main animagus form is the one we first saw, which was for me the Leopard, for Neville that would be the dire wolf and for Ron was the Tiger. We are most comfortable in those forms and unless focused on turning into one of the other forms turn into that instinctively." She pouted, "but it only allows the people to share one form. So me, Ron, and Neville have Harry's cheetah form but not the dragon." With that she playfully scowled at Harry.

Harry then took over and looked at Remus, "so if you really don't mind we can accompany you the next full moon."

Both Minerva and Molly said sounding worried, "But what if you are not big enough to handle his wolf?"

The three kids looked at each other and as one stood up from their chairs, transformed and leapt on the table. One was a Leopard with slightly bushy fur, one was a Tiger with an almost orangey red coat, and the last was a Cheetah the size and weight of a male African Lion. Out of the three the leopard was the smallest, but it was clear that the two larger cats were protective of the female. The Cheetah's spots on its back looked more like stripes and where there were normally spots on the hindquarters were swirls and lines. While the rings on its tail were larger than usual and the spots that it did have ran into one another creating elongated spots.

All three cats rubbed up against each other and the Cheetah started to purr, then all of the cats walked up to their head of house and sat down. They then looked at her as if asking 'believe us now?' she reached up and petted all of them, when she petted the Cheetah it purred and licked her hand. Minerva then said, "Alright you are big enough to be able to handle a werewolf, now get down from the table, transform back and sit down." All three did as she told them to.

The tiger and leopard leapt down first, the cheetah got down last after rubbing its head affectionately along Ichigo, Remus, Severus, and Sirius' cheeks while simultaneously purring. After Harry transformed back and got back into his seat, he turned to Remus and asked, "So, can we join you?" As he asked that he pouted and gave Remus a puppy dog eyed look.

Remus chucked while saying, "You certainly may Harry, however Professor McGonagall has to decide if Hermione can join us and Molly has to decide for Ron." As he gave the okay he ruffled Harry's hair.

Both Ron and Hermione shot beseeching looks at Minerva and Molly. Minerva raised both hands in surrender and said, "If you believe you can handle it Miss Granger, then I see no reason to stop you that is if Remus believes that his wolf will not harm you." At her last statement, she looked questioningly at Remus.

Remus chucked and said, "Actually my wolf already considered them pack back in their third year."

Harry looked at him sharply and asked, "Really? Why would he have done that?"

Remus smiled down at him and replied, "Simple, the three of you carried each others scent on you. To my wolf that said that the three of you considered the others pack mates because only pack mates are allowed that close. Moreover, seeing as how you are the only child of my wolf's Alpha, you are allowed to bring new members into the pack on a probationary basis in the Alpha's absence. However once the alpha has returned he will have to accept the new members as well. I have a feeling that James is probably going to welcome them with open arms."

Sirius nodded in agreement with Remus and commented, "matter of fact, he will probably try to hug you to death when he finds out about certain parts of _Harry's_ school years. Of course after hugging you he is probably going to go on the war path with the Minister of Magic." As he said that, he got a very wicked smile on his face that made it clear that although he did not follow the path of his family he was still a snake in some way. Or alternatively, as Harry, Severus, Remus and James had all at one point in Sirius' life had quipped 'he is like a chimera more of a lion then a snake but still a snake.' Sirius had always laughed at that particular comment although he would be the first to admit that it is true.

Both Kingsley and Nymphadora look at him questioningly and chorused, "What do you mean by that?"

Sirius chuckled darkly and said while still smiling, "to the Potter's, family means everything, especially their kids. James was his parents' only child and as such was highly treasured by them. For another, the Potter family owns the majority of the Daily Prophet with the ministry only owning about 20% of it. The only reason the Ministry is able to force the Prophet to write what they want printed is that Harry is not yet of the age to be able claim one of the many titles that the Potter family has. Once he finds out about their smear campaign against his child he is going to be furious." At his last statement, he got a darkly gleeful look on his face and kept chuckling.

Although Remus, Harry and Severus were not surprised by Sirius vindictiveness the rest of the Order was along with Hermione, Ron, Fred, George and Ginny. Ichigo and Orihime were not surprised as Orihime had heard a lot about Sirius from Ichigo. In addition, Ichigo had long ago remembered his life as Regulus A. Black; as such, he already knew how vindictive Sirius could be when he put his mind to it. To everyone's surprise, it was Ichigo who after looking at Sirius said in a quiet calming tone, "calm down, Sear."

At that, Sirius' head shot up and he stared Ichigo in the eye and noticed for the first time how his eyes resembled Regulus'. Sirius then said, "You and me need to talk later, Ichigo. Understood?" After Ichigo nodded his understanding, Sirius turned to Remus and asked, "So do you have a clue as to where this prison might be located?"

Remus nodded and surprisingly it was Severus who answered, "After Remus explained to me in which direction he headed from where he started. I was able to determine which prison house they were in. The problem is that the house is unplottable and I have never been sent to retrieve any prisoners so I have no clue of its exact location. That is why we are going to need to follow Remus on the full moon as all I know is that it is located in Scotland."

Ichigo clapped his hands together and stood up, "alright then do we head to have Orihime heal those two people now or in the morning?"

Kingsley replied, "having her heal them now would probably be easier then in the morning. There are less people manning the hospital at night then during the day, especially the long term wards."

Ichigo nodded then looks at Orihime then asked her, "You think you can heal them?"

She frowned while biting her lip then said, "I think so but I'll have to examine them to know for sure."

Kingsley smiled at the young woman and said, "Don't worry about that. If you can heal them that would be terrific, however we will not be angry if you cannot. As for how I will get you in is simple, the two people you are going to attempt to heal used to be Aurors and as such, I as a fellow Auror can bring in an outside healer. I will just tell whoever is on duty that you have a special gift with healing cases that others have given up hope of ever being cured. And that we would like you to be able to attempt to heal them without giving false hope to their families."

Orihime smiled back at him and said, "thank you, I'll do my best to heal them. You are right though I do tend to be able to heal what others would think unable to be healed."

Albus looked at them and said, "very well. Kingsley will accompany young Miss Orihime to St. Mungo's and hopefully heal two of our former members."

Severus interrupted by asking Harry, "how many spare rooms are there in this house?"

Both Albus and Harry blinked in shock at the unexpected question but Harry answered, "There are three bedrooms however the study and the Living room can be used as well in a pinch. Why?"

Severus replied, "simple if Sirius stays in his childhood house for too long he will go insane or rather go more crazy. Not to mention your cousin Ichigo is obviously staying here as well and Sirius has already decided that they need to talk. Thanks to some information, he received earlier today Remus needs to talk to you. I need to talk to Sirius as well so I will be staying as well. That is four guests not counting Ichigo's two friends."

Harry interjected with, "actually Kon will be staying in the same room as Ichigo and Orihime will be going back to Karakura town in the morning. Therefore, Ichigo will probably crash in the study on the couch until tomorrow night. I guess that since Remus needs to talk to me, he can bunk with me in the room I stay in while I'm here. I suppose you and Sirius can flip a coin to see who gets the other room." He then turns to the rest of the Order and asked, "does anyone else need to stay for some reason?"

At that question, the rest of the Order shook their heads and started to head out the front door to go home. Harry then raised both eyebrows and quietly suggested, "You might want to head out the back door so no one can see you apparate."

Most of the Order started in surprise but headed to the kitchen and out the back door. After a little while, the people still in the house heard several loud cracks in succession. Kingsley nodded to everyone and said to Orihime, "alright if you will follow me I will side-along apparate you to St. Mungo's." With that Orihime got out of her seat and followed him out the back door and with a crack they left.

That left only Sirius, Severus, Remus, Harry, Ichigo, Zangetsu, Kon and Albus in the house as the Weasleys and Hermione left after the Headmaster made them a portkey back to Grimmauld Place. After saying that he would see them tomorrow the headmaster left for Hogwarts. The remaining people looked at one another and Sirius said, "well we might as well get this little chat out of the way. Come along Ichigo. Let's go to the study and talk."

After Ichigo left, Harry looked at both Severus and Remus, then he said, "Remus could you go wait upstairs for me, I think I need to clear something up with Professor Snape. When you go upstairs enter the second door to your right that is the room I usually stay in when I crash here." Remus nodded and headed toward the staircase and Severus looked uncomfortable. "Professor, could you shrink the table back to its normal size please?"

Severus shrunk the table and after sitting down at one of the chairs, looked up at his godchild and said, "I am so sorry for treating you like I did…" as he went to continue to apologize however he found Harry placing one hand over his mouth.

Harry looked at him and asked, "did you remember who I was when you treated me like that?" Severus shook his head no. "Then you have no reason to apologize, after all you did not remember I was not Lily's child and that the two of you never stopped being friends. So really how could I possibly blame you for reacting the way you did. I forgive you for anything you said or did whilst under the memory charm, Uncle Severus." Harry looked at him sternly.

At that, Severus gave a wan smile and said, "you can call me Uncle Rus. At least that is what you called me when you were a baby anyway. I have missed being called that actually… I was Uncle Rus and Sirius was Uncle Sear."

At that, Harry cocked his head to the right and asked, "does Remus know about me being a girl, Uncle Rus?"

Severus smiled at her and said, "Yes, he knows you are a girl, Kushina."

She sighed in relief and said, "thank god that means I can take off my glamour again."

Severus raised his left eyebrow sardonically and asked, "again?"

She giggled at his expression for a moment then explained, "when I was about five years old my glamour wore off and I had Kisuke make a device that replaced it. The device allows me to turn the glamour on or off at will so if I want to I could walk down Diagon Ally without anyone knowing who I am."

Severus snorted then said, "that will probably come in handy. You had better get upstairs to Remus before he goes insane; he has something to tell you that you need to hear."

Kushina smiled slyly while saying mischievously, "if it is about him being my father I already know."

Severus started and stared at her in shock, "how did you find that out?"

Kushina smiled while commenting, "well when I was telling Sirius about my first three school years, he made several comments about how much I acted like a combination of Remus and James. In addition, that I acted very little like Lily and all of those actions could be explained away by me living in the muggle world until the age of eleven. Not to mention I got a letter a few days ago from my dad. It would seem he wanted to make sure I knew about Remus being my father, he told me that if he was dead to look after Remus for him."

Severus snorted then said, "Sounds like something James would do. I'm going to the kitchen to put away those cookies before that boy Kon eats them all." She smiled and nodded her thanks; she then turned and walked upstairs. As she walked up the stairs she ran her fingers across the hidden onyx bracelet, deactivating the genjutsu contained in the seals etched into the surface.


	6. Chapter 5: Healing and Conversations

Chapter Five: Healing and Conversations Long Overdue

Sirius followed Ichigo to the study and shut the door behind them, as he did so he watched as Ichigo settled against the desk and Sirius sat down in one of the two chairs in front of it. After sitting down he asks, "so how exactly did this happen, Reg'?"

At his question, Ichigo smiled sardonically then snarked at him, "I died, duh."

Sirius looked at him impatiently while saying, "I know you died you idiot! I meant how did you die and become my own cousin!"

Ichigo smirked while replying, "I joined the death eaters in order to spy on them, unlike Severus, I was not in the inner circle. However, in 1979 Voldemort told his death eaters he needed use of a house elf and I volunteered Kreacher for the job. Therefore, that night when I got home I ordered him to accompany the Dark Lord and to come home immediately once he was done. It was a good thing I had ordered him to come home immediately otherwise Kreacher would be dead and I would have never found out Moldy Voldy's secret that he never wanted anyone to find out."

Sirius raised his eyebrows in astonishment, "just what was this secret of his?"

Ichigo smirked and replied, "I found the location of his Horcrux."

Sirius' eyes widened and he exclaimed in shock, "a Horcrux? He made a Horcrux! What the hell was he thinking?"

Ichigo looked at him amused and said, "Yes he made a Horcrux. And I do not think he was thinking when he made them."

Sirius stared at him and asked sharply, "them? As in more than one?"

At Sirius' question Ichigo nodded grimly, "yeah, I figured out that he made more than one after Kushina's second year."

Sirius glanced to the side then back at Ichigo and asked, "The diary was one wasn't it?"

Ichigo nodded sadly then said, "Yeah it was. Poor Ginny, me and Kushina managed to figure out at least seven Horcruxes."

Sirius turned as pale as the Bloody Baron, "seven? He made at least seven?" After Ichigo nodded Sirius cursed and said, "How many have been destroyed and where are the others located?"

Ichigo sighed and said, "Two of them have been destroyed. The other five are in various locations. One is in Bellatrix's vault; the second is constantly in Voldemort's presence."

Sirius raised his eyebrow in askance and Ichigo explained, "The second is Nagini his snake. The first is a cup, I remember how Bella had gloated being entrusted with it by her Lord. The third is the one I found and died in order to get, Kreacher should still have it in his possession if he could not destroy it. The fourth is one that Kushina figured out, when she destroyed one of the others, she managed to get the locations of two out of it. The first is located in Little Hangleton at his mother's childhood home. The second is actually located at Hogwarts."

Sirius looked completely bamboozled at that, "Hogwarts, one of his Horcruxes is at Hogwarts." After rubbing the heels of his hands against his eyes, he continued talking, "So that's how you died, huh? However you never explained just how you managed to become our cousin."

Ichigo smirked while saying, "I pulled a stunt worthy of a Gryffindor. Because I accepted my death before I actually died, I ended up able to choose what happened to me. I could choose to go on to soul society or I could have been reincarnated immediately but have my memories erased. I chose neither; instead, I knocked both guards out of the way and leapt through one of the portals. I was quite surprised when I ended up being born to Masaki; I managed to influence her slightly into giving me the middle name of Regulus. Due to the Black family dreams I remembered both my life as Hisana and as Regulus, which is actually quite funny." His eyes glinted in amusement with a hint of amber flashing in them.

Sirius smiles at his little brothers' reincarnation and asks, "How is it funny?"

Ichigo smirked and replied, "Because I get to hang around my little sister from my life as Hisana, I get to annoy my husband and get away with it. The only thing I have to be careful with is to keep Zangetsu's true form hidden from Senbonzakura or he will be able to tell Byakuya who I am. Right now that is the last thing I want." He scowled slightly as if annoyed by something.

Sirius' brow furrowed as he asked puzzled, "why do you not want him to know?"

Ichigo snorted while saying angrily, "as you heard in the kitchen he very nearly broke his promise to me. Until he proves that he takes his promise to me seriously, I have made it my life mission to annoy the hell out of him." He made a slightly violent gesture.

Sirius smirked at him and said, "Well if you need ideas or supplies just send me a letter."

Ichigo looked at him with soft eyes, "I doubt I'll need ideas but I might need supplies you can only get in the wizarding world so thanks for the offer, Sear."

Then to Ichigo's shock, Sirius gave him a bear hug and said, "I am so proud of you, Reg'." After he let him go from the hug, he put his hands on Ichigo's cheeks and gave him a kiss on his forehead. "Seriously, I am proud of you. All you need is an animagus form and I will personally induct you into the Marauders." At his last statement, Ichigo rolled his eyes at Sirius' grin.

Ichigo shoved him out of the room while grinning then said, "I think you need to go talk to your husband, brother dear."

After Sirius left the study, Ichigo moved the chairs over to the window out of the way of the couch. After he moved the chairs, he pulled out the hideaway bed from inside the couch. After he prepared the bed for the night, he went into the kitchen and grabbed Kon, he also said goodnight to both Sirius and Severus while in the kitchen. He then dragged Kon to the study and switched Kon to his plushy form and got into his gigai, after saying goodnight to Kon, he went to bed finally falling asleep at twelve thirty am.

After she talked to Severus, Kushina walked up the stairs and went into the master bedroom where she found Remus sitting on the couch in the corner of the room. Remus looked up and his jaw dropped. His daughter was a lot different then her glamour, she had waist length blood red hair with gold streaks through it making it look like fire and golden green eyes, she smiled impishly at him and said, "close your mouth or else you'll attract flies."

Remus snorts and says, "Well pardon me for gaping at you, Kushina. I only have seen you with your glamour on. Matter of fact, how did you even take it off?" He gazed at her curiously.

Kushina laughed and replied, "The glamour wore off when I was five. I had my friend Kisuke invent a bracelet that had the same effect for when I went to the Dursley's for the summer as ordered by the courts." As she spoke she tapped the onyx bracelet on her left wrist.

Remus' brow furrowed as he asked, "Ordered by the courts?" He was staring at the bracelet, he had never seen those kinds of runes before.

Kushina nodded, "yeah due to neither of my parents having wills and all papers saying I was in the custody of the Dursleys. My aunt Masaki and Uncle Isshin took them to court to get custody of me however the judge decided that until I turned ten I would live with the Kurosaki's, but after I turned ten I would live with the Dursleys until the age of fifteen. Whereupon I could decided who I wanted to live with, however if my dad is alive then the courts decision can be overruled."

Remus looked a bit relieved, "so you didn't spend most of your childhood with the Dursleys?"

She shook her head and said, "nah, although I did spend the summers with them. After my sixth birthday, Kisuke bought this house and connected the basement to the basement of his shop so if I wanted I could visit for a day or two. In addition, with this house I could get away from the Dursleys for a little while. One of my Sensei's from Japan would spend the summer in this house and teach me when I dropped by. Kensei's favorite thing to teach me about was how to fix motorcycles, since he owns one. He also taught me and Ichigo how to ride one, it was pretty fun actually." At her last sentence, she gave a huge smile.

Remus chuckled and said, "at least you have something in common with Sirius. He owned a motorcycle as well, however when he became incarcerated he never got it back. I wonder what happened to it."

She gave him a smile and said, "I know he loves motorcycles. After I was done telling him about my first three years at Hogwarts, we ended up sharing stories with each other. One of the stories was how my cousin and I learned how to ride motorcycles. Actually I don't think any of Ichigo's friends know that he can ride one."

Remus blinked and asked, "Really?" At that, Kushina nodded.

Remus smiled at her nervously and said, "Kushina I have something to tell you but I really do not know how to say it."

She smirked at him and said, "If it is about you being my father do not worry I already know."

Remus looked at her shocked and exclaimed, "You already know! But how?" He goggled in shock at her amused face.

Kushina laughed and replied, "number one: when I was telling Sirius about my years at Hogwarts he kept making these comments about how much I acted like you. Number two: Dad wrote a letter to be sent to me no later than June 19th of this year. It was a just in case letter, he told me that you were my father and how he was the one to give birth to me not Lily. He also told me that Lily is my godmother and adopted Aunt."

Remus laughed and said, "It is just like James to do something like that. Prepare for the worst but hope for the best."

The two of them sat talking for over three hours until they fell asleep on top of the covers.

In the kitchen after Ichigo came in and grabbed Kon while telling them goodnight, Sirius and Severus sat down at the table to talk. Severus looked a slight bit nervous about something before he finally said, "I'm sorry for…"

Sirius cut him off, "I don't blame you. Just what were you supposed to think, I mean you did not remember being married to me much less that I would have died before betraying Lily or James. Nor that I would give my life to defend our goddaughter, every other member of my family except for Regulus was devoted followers of Voldemort. It is not all that surprising that people thought I would go the same way. So get this little fact through your thick head, Severus Tobias Snape-Black, I DO NOT BLAME YOU FOR ANY ACTION YOU TOOK WHILE UNDER THE MEMORY CHARM. Got it?" At his last sentence, he glared at his husband as if to say 'agree with me now or be forced to sleep on the couch. For a month!'

Severus smiled wanly while saying "got it, love. So what is the plan about letting people know we are married?"

Sirius smirked then with his eyes glinting mischievously said, "how about just making out in front of everyone who is not in the know about our marriage?"

Severus smirked in return and said, "Agreed. Shall we head to bed Sirius?"

Sirius nodded but hesitated slightly then asked, "Just to sleep right?"

Severus laughed then replied, "yes Sirius just to sleep, I don't think we are up for anything more then that. Anything more than sleeping can wait until your name is cleared and James and Lily are safe."

Sirius laughed while saying, "agreed. Can you imagine the look on everyone's face when we start making out and I demand that you take me to bed immediately?"

Severus nodded then got up from the chair; Sirius followed him upstairs to the room across from Harry's room. After using the bathroom to change into their pajamas, the two of them then crawled into the bed and quickly fell asleep.

At about the same time as Ichigo's conversation with Sirius ended, in London. Orihime and Kingsley had made their way to the fourth floor and they were stopped by the night healer who asked who they were and what they were doing there. After introducing himself, Kingsley said, "this is Healer Inoue from Japan. She has heard about Aurors Frank and Alice Longbottom's condition from her supervisor. He had suggested to her that since she seems to have a gift with healing those who others deemed unable to be healed she might want to at least attempt to see if she might be able to heal them."

The healer hesitated slightly then replied, "I guess I can let you try after all it is not like they can get any worse then they are now. Very well, she may attempt to heal them."

Orihime gave a bow and said, "thank you for allowing my attempt. I hope I can be successful and return them to their family." After Orihime thanked him, the healer left to oversee other patients. As Kingsley watched she walked over to Alice and while standing at the foot of her bed, closed her eyes and took a deep breath, then she opened her eyes and said, "Shun'o, Ayame!"

As she said that a pair of lights shot out from her barrettes and formed two fairies who hovered in front of her and one of them asked her, "what do you need Princess?"

Orihime smiled and asked while pointing at Alice, "do you think you could heal her?"

The other fairy turned around and said, "I think we can… However, what do you think Ayame?"

Ayame frowned in concentration, "you are right Shun'o I think we can heal her as well."

Orihime sighed in relief and then looked at them and asked, "Do you think you would be able to heal him as well?" as she asked this she pointed at Frank.

Shun'o and Ayame looked at him and frowned, then as one they said, "we could heal him but only if we heal him first. He will take work that is more delicate then her, but once he is healed we should have a better idea of what to do to heal her. So it all works out."

Orihime smiled while moving over to Frank's bedside and said, "Then let's get to work. Shun'o, Ayame, Soten Kisshun, I Reject!" This time as she said those words Shun'o went to above Franks head while Ayame went to below his feet. The two of them formed an orange shield around him that pulsed with a gentle glow. She stood there for over two hours healing Frank. Finally, after two hours of waiting the orange shield collapsed and Frank opened his eyes briefly, he then managed to ask, "Is Neville safe?"

At his question, Kingsley stepped forward and said, "Yes, Frank, Neville is safe." After whispering that he was glad to hear that, Frank fell asleep. Kingsley then watched as she walked back over to Alice's bed and stood at the foot of it.

Once again, Orihime cried out, "Shun'o, Ayame, Soten Kisshun, I Reject!" Again, the orange shield appeared over Alice this time.

About an hour later, the shield dropped and Alice's eyes fluttered open, she smiled at Orihime and said, "thank you child." She then turned to Kingsley and said, "thank you for bringing her here. Now I can talk to my son." After saying that she fell into a deep slumber.

Kingsley looked at Orihime, who was swaying in exhaustion and asked, "Are you alright?"

Orihime gave him wan smile but replied, "I am fine, just tired. I'll be fine once I get some sleep, can you take me back to the house?"

Kingsley smiled down at the young woman and said, "Certainly." After walking her out of St. Mungo's he side-along apparated her back to Jackal's Lair. Once her hand touched the door, it clicked open and she walked in and closed the door. She then made her way upstairs to the bedrooms after checking in on Ichigo and found him sound asleep and according to the clock in the study, it was almost two in the morning. There was only one door open upstairs and, as it was unoccupied, she went in and collapsed on the bed within moments she was sound asleep.

The next morning in the master bedroom, Remus stirred and awoke. Much to his surprise Kushina was waking as well; as he watched, she rubbed the heels of her hands against her eyes and yawned. She then opened one eye and murmured, "morning Papa."

Remus looked a bit startled at that name then blinked in shock but gamely murmured back, "good morning Kushina."

As Remus watched, Kushina stretched and popped her neck and spine. She then walked over to the closet, opened the left side, and riffled through what looked to be men's clothing. As she did so, she said, "well since you cannot exactly wear that outfit twice. Not to mention how shabby it looks, I think you better borrow some of Kisuke's clothing."

Remus raised one eyebrow at her back and asked, "are you sure he won't mind me borrowing it? And what room do you sleep in when he is here?" The last question was almost growled out.

Kushina laughed and said, "First, I highly doubt he would mind you borrowing clothes he never planned on wearing anyway. Second, Papa, he is my Fiancé; however when both of us are in the house he generally sleeps on the couch over there." As she said the last sentence she pointed at the couch in the corner of the room across from the bed, she then comments. "The only time we sleep in the same bed is when I am having nightmares and I need someone to hold me. Besides, I was only ten the last time I crawled in bed with Kisuke." She said while rolling her eyes. "It was perfectly innocent."

Remus breathed a sigh of relief, and said while shooting her an exasperated look, "for Merlin's sake Kushina, you are not even fifteen yet of course I am going to be worried about you sleeping in the same bed as anyone."

Her lips twitched, then she walked over to him, handed him a pair of slacks and a button up shirt, she then said, "go take a shower Papa while I make breakfast."

Remus pouted slightly but took the bundle of clothes from her and went into the bathroom where shortly afterward she heard the shower turn on. After changing her own clothes, she walked out in the hall and checked on her godfathers as well as Orihime. All three are sound asleep so she left them to rest up, she then went into the laundry room and after she searched the cupboards in there, and she found some clothes that the other three guests could borrow. Ichigo had Kon bring some changes of clothes with him last night so he was good on that.

After leaving the changes of clothing in the guest rooms she walked downstairs and checked on Ichigo and Kon, however both were still sound asleep. She closed the door quietly, she then tiptoed to the kitchen and began making a full English breakfast. As she finished frying the bacon Remus walked into the kitchen and after sniffing the kitchen said, "That smells delicious, Kushina."

Shortly after Remus said that, Ichigo stumbled into the kitchen, and Kushina having anticipated when he would wake up had a cup of coffee ready for him. After he took a sip, he murmured while giving her a one armed hug, "you are an angel sent from above, Shina-Chan."

She laughed and said, "You are only saying that because I had your coffee already ready."

Ichigo smirked while quipping, "true." After she swatted at him and he dodged, he said, "I am going to go train for a little while. So when it is time to eat just hit the trap door, okay?"

She rolled her eyes but agreed, she then shooed him out of the kitchen and said to Remus, "either sit down Papa or help me cook."

Remus looked a bit sheepish and said, "If I helped you cook we would have nothing to eat."

Kushina raised her eyebrows in askance and he elaborated, "I am a terrible cook, I even burn water."

Kushina laughed and asked, "Can Dad cook or is he just as bad as you?"

Remus smirked then said, "James is worse then me in the kitchen unless it involves taking bread, some meat, some cheese, some lettuce, mayo and making a sandwich. James is the king of sandwich making. I, at the very least know how to operate a microwave and a toaster, James on the other hand despite knowing what they are for and how to operate them cannot for his life use them." He then laughed and remarked, "Actually, the last time James used a microwave he blew it up."

Kushina said while looking shocked, "Huh, I wonder where I got the love of cooking from then."

Remus laughed while saying, "probably from your grandmothers."

Kushina smiled at him, and said, "quit distracting me or there will be no breakfast to eat." as she said that she pointed a spatula at him. He then raised his hands in mock surrender and mimed zipping his lips.

Meanwhile upstairs Severus slowly woke up and when he opened his eyes he found himself alone in bed. After stretching and yawning, he sat up and looked around, as he did so he noticed that the bathroom door was closed and light was seeping out from under it. He thought to himself, 'ah so that is where he went.' he climbed out of bed and cracked his back, as he did so he noticed a set of clothes on the nightstand. As he was checking the clothes to see if they would fit him, the bathroom door opened and Sirius stepped out wearing a t-shirt that said 'I hear voices and they don't like you' and a pair of faded denim jeans. The reason why Sirius had not noticed that Severus was up was because he was towel drying his almost waist length hair.

After Sirius got done towel drying his hair he looked up and said while looking startled, "oh, you're up Severus."

At Sirius surprise, Severus started to chuckle, and replied, "Yes Sirius I'm up. Do you mind if I take a shower real quick?'

Sirius shook his head while saying, "No I don't mind. Do you want me to wait for you or should I head downstairs?"

Severus' lips twitched in amusement then he said, "Go ahead and go down. Tell the other's I'll be down as soon as I am dressed."

Sirius smiled then gave him a quick kiss and said, "Sure, just don't take to long in there." As he said that, he walked out of the bedroom and shut the door behind him. As he looked up, he noticed that the master bedroom's door was open and it was unoccupied while the other bedroom's door was closed tight. He guessed that Orihime was still asleep, and as he did not know what time she got back in last night, he decided to let her sleep. As he walked down the stairs, he heard low voices coming from the kitchen, so he poked his head in and saw Remus watching Kushina cook. He started drooling at the smells wafting from the oven where the food was being kept warm while the rest of it was cooked. She was making some pancakes and there was already a stack of thirty beside her as she finished the five in the pan she placed them on top of the stack and placed the stack in the oven to keep warm.

He walked into the room and asked, "So why are you making so much food, Kushina? There are only six of us in the house 'cause Kon doesn't count."

Thankfully, he asked her that before she started to cook the eggs or she would have thrown them into the air when she jumped. As she and Remus whirled around, she pressed her hand to her heart and said, "for heaven sake Sirius never sneak up on us like that! The reason why I am making so much is simple, if I know Kisuke, and I do, he invented something similar to the Marauders' map and gave it to someone from soul society to test. There are only two people in soul society that cannot find their way around, and that is the captain and lieutenant of squad eleven. Both of which have large appetites and more then likely was ordered to bring their third and fifth seat in order to insure that they did not cause too much damage to surrounding property."

Both Remus and Sirius raised their left eyebrows in sync, although that was not what made her giggle, unknown to the two of them Severus had walked in and had done the exact same thing. Severus asked, "and just why are you convinced that this soul society will send this captain here?" When he asked that question both Sirius and Remus jumped, having not heard him enter the room.

After she got her giggles under control she smirked, "simple Uncle 'Rus. Kenpachi loves fighting my cousin so they won't send him to Karakura town and there are not too many hollows in England. So they will feel somewhat safe in sending him here, however Kenpachi always seems to know where Ichigo is so he will more then likely make his way to this house wanting to fight Ichigo. In addition, where Kenpachi goes so does his lieutenant, as well as his fifth and third seats. Now if you do not mind I am going to go let Ichigo know that breakfast is ready, I know Sirius can at least make toast."

As she said that, she walked out of the kitchen, walked over to the bottom of the stairs, and knocked on the trap door before opening it and yelling down into the training area, "Ichigo, breakfast is ready so get up here and wash your hands!" After closing the trap door she walked up the stairs and knocked on Orihime's door and said, "Orihime, time to wake up, breakfast is ready."

After a few minutes, Orihime opened the door, and it was clear from her appearance that she had taken a shower as her hair was slightly messy and her hairpins were out of her hair. She smiled brightly and said, "Alright I'll be down in a few minutes I just need to brush my hair and put my pins in."

Kushina smiled back and said, "No problem. I'm going back downstairs to keep the boys from eating it all." She then proceeds to turn around and walk back down the stairs. When she went into the kitchen, she saw that Ichigo and Kon had joined Severus, Sirius and Remus.

As she walked into the kitchen Ichigo turned and snapped while glaring at her, "sheesh Kushina you just had to suggest a map that updates itself to him didn't you. Now Kenpachi's going to want to fight me!"

Kushina looked at him and said while wearing a bloodthirsty smile, "I was thinking about challenging him to a fight myself actually."

At that statement everyone's jaw dropped and the three adult's chorused, "why the hell would you want to do that?"

Kushina snorted and replied, "simple, I have not had the chance in the last four years to really cut loose with my Zanpakuto. This will give me a chance to test their blades, plus let's just say I have a very good reason for needing him to hang around for today at least."

Ichigo groaned and said, "Don't tell me you saw him with someone in your dreams and now you are matchmaking."

She smirked at him and drawled out, "okay I won't."

Remus raised his eyebrows and asked, "out of curiosity just who he with was? Could you at least give us a hint?"

Kushina laughed and said, "Sure I'll give you all a few hints. Hint number one: she has chocolate colored eyes. Hint number two: she is named for a character in a play, hint number three: she is the best witch of her age. Hint number four: she owns a cat, hint number five: she can…" Before she could continue with hint number five Sirius cut her off.

Sirius rolled his eyes, "you might as well just say her name you know it's obvious you mean Hermione."

Kushina snickered and said, "True I could have but Papa asked for hints not for me to just blurt out her name." Remus all but pouted at that comment.

Ichigo smirked and said, "You know Remus you have to stop giving her ammunition. Admittedly, some of the Visoreds have yet to learn that, Hiyori and Shinji just keep giving her more ammunition. Kensei, Lisa, Hachi, Rose and Love have all learned not to give her more ammo to tease with."

Remus huffed and said, "Sorry Ichigo, but I am sadly out of practice as no one has teased me like that for twelve years."

As Orihime walked down the stairs she heard a knock on the front door and called out to the other's, "don't worry I'll get it!" She then bounded over to the door and opened it, once it was open she recognized the four people standing in front of it. In front of her was Kenpachi and Yachiru, then to Kenpachi's right was Ikkaku and to his left was Yumichika. The four blinked and gaped at her in shock.

Ikkaku looked at her and with the muscles around his right eye twitching he asked, "What the hell are you doing here?"

Orihime smiled brightly while replying, "Oh some friends of Ichigo's cousin asked if I could heal two people for them. I was about to have breakfast and then go back to Karakura."

Kenpachi cocked his head to the left and asked, "Is Ichigo here?"

Orihime nods and chirps a reply of, "yes he is here, and I think he is in the kitchen at the moment."

Kenpachi gave a bloodthirsty grin and said, "Good. I want to fight him," as he said that he brushed past her and walked toward the kitchen with Yachiru hanging onto his shoulder.

After he went past her, she smiled at the other two men and said, "You might as well come in and have breakfast with us."

They both shrug and come in the house where they can hear Ichigo yelling that he is not fighting Kenpachi. As they walk into the kitchen, they can see Kushina in between the two men with her back to Ichigo and her arms crossed over her chest, Yachiru was sitting in-between Remus and Sirius. She was telling Kenpachi, "actually I was wondering if you might want to fight me, Captain Zaraki. We could go down to the training area after we finish breakfast as it would be a pain to eat cold."

Kenpachi smiled as he replied, "if you are as good of a fighter as Ichigo, I have no objections to fighting you. However if I do not find our fight fun Ichigo will have to fight me."

Kushina gave him an almost bloodthirsty grin and replied, "Agreed Captain Zaraki."

Yachiru grinned and said happily, "Yay, Kenny gets to play."

Remus looked down at her and said, "You seem happy about that little one."

Yachiru giggled, and said, "of course, I like it when Kenny has fun. Ken-Chan had fun playing with Ichigo, so maybe he'll have just as much fun playing with her."

Kushina turned toward the door and said, "you can come in you know. Although I think, we had better move to the dinning room to eat. Remus, can you grab the plates and silverware and can you three help me with the food?" as she asked the last question she pointed at Yumichika, Severus and Orihime. All three moved to help her carry the food to the dinning room, after the food was set down and everyone was seated, they dished themselves and ate. Ichigo and Orihime talked quietly about Karakura between bites and Sirius was asking Kushina to explain where she found the book that had the potion and ritual in it. Once breakfast was finished, Kenpachi stood up, cracked his neck and said, "Well let's fight."

Kushina smirked then turned toward the others and asked, "Ichigo, could I get you and Orihime to load the dishwasher as I doubt the others even know what one is." Orihime and Ichigo nod, after she got their agreement she turned to Kenpachi and said with a grin, "follow me Captain." She took Ichigo's badge from him, and then turned away to walk toward the stairs and after opening the trapdoor jumped down. She called up at them, "close the trapdoor Kenpachi when you come down."

After Kenpachi came down the ladder, he found Kushina grinning at him, he cocked his head to the left, "so where are your swords?" He asked while unsheathing his zanpakuto. She grinned at him and tapped her bracers, he looked at her with his eyebrow raised then asked, "what do you mean by that, little one?"

"My bracers are my zanpakuto's link to the physical world, much like Kisuke Urahara, I am capable of manifesting my zanpakuto in the real world." She explained lightly with a smirk.

He snorted, "then draw them already."

She smirked at him while placing her left hand in the crook of her right elbow. As she drew her hand down her right forearm to her wrist she then cried out, "Raise your army in my defense, KNEEL Anubis!" With that she disappeared in a flash of light and when she reappeared the stylized Jackal was gone from the bracer. In her left hand was a Khopesh however unlike others of its type, it had a guard covering her hand that had several spikes on it. It was almost as if the blade was designed for her to be able to not only stab, slash and cut but to also use it to punch people. She cracked her neck and beckoned him towards her with her right hand.

Kenpachi grinned at her and charged, as he slashed at her. She dodged, ducking under his blade. When she ducked she had kicked him in the stomach, but he only grinned at her.

In the kitchen above they could hear the bangs and crashes. Ichigo looked down at the floor and raised an eyebrow, "huh…Kushina sounds like she's having fun." Indeed everyone could hear laughter from below, Kenpachi's deep laugh and a higher sweeter laugh peeled out.


	7. Chapter 6: Truths and Laughter

Chapter Six: Truths and Laughter

Meanwhile at Grimmauld Place, Molly had already cooked and served breakfast for her kids and those of the order members who were there that morning. When Kingsley came in Albus asked him, "How did the healing go last night?"

Kingsley said while smiling, "it went really well. Before they fell asleep, they were speaking lucidly and seemed to know that several years had passed since they had been admitted. Although Frank did seem a little disorientated, but that was to be expected, he was hurt much worse than Alice was after all. After she finished healing them I escorted her back to the house and made sure she made it into the house."

Albus nodded and said with a chuckle, "that's good, I expect that whichever shift is there when they wake up is going to get a bit of a shock."

Kingsley nodded and replied with a smirk, "I expect so as we did not bother to inform them that the healing was successful. Less chance of them finding out that she was not a certified healer."

Molly gasped then said in almost distraught tone, "wouldn't that be dangerous. I mean if they find out that you brought in an uncertified healer, you could lose your job!"

Kingsley shook his head while saying, "No chance of that since the healing was a success. I highly doubt that Madam Longbottom will object to her son and his wife being returned to them whole and healthy."

Albus smiled and said, "I quite agree Kingsley. Who here wishes to go back to Jackal's Lair this morning?" After he asked that everyone raised their hands, he then smiled and said, "I suppose it would not hurt to have everyone come along since Miss Granger and Ronald along with Harry will be joining Remus and Sirius on the full moon. We have exactly two weeks to prepare and hopefully gain Madam Bones' support."

After much discussion between the adults, there was a tentative plan, they would side-along apparate the children to the back yard of the house. While the adults were talking, the kids were discussing what Sirius and Snape needed to talk about and just what did Remus need to speak with Harry about so urgently. Although the teenagers were curious, they knew that Harry would tell them when he was ready and not a second before. As they wrapped up their discussion, they heard the adults tell them that they would be apparated to the house so they needed to grab their wands if they did not already have them.

Molly would be apparating with Ginny, while Arthur took Ron, Fred and George would apparate themselves, and Minerva took Hermione. As they landed in the yard, they overheard Ichigo saying, "don't worry, I doubt they will be much longer down there. After all I can't hear anymore crashes and booms."

Fred and George glance at each other and after striding up to the door knock firmly. The door opened to reveal a man with what looked like feathers stuck to his left eyebrow and eyelashes, his eyes were purple. His black hair was shoulder length and he appeared to be wearing the same type of outfit that Ichigo was wearing when they met him except for an orange thing around his left arm and neck. He raised his left eyebrow and asked them, "Can I help you?"

Shortly after he asked that, a little girl wearing a smaller version of Ichigo's outfit jumped onto his shoulder and said, "Who are they Yun-Yun?"

The man blinked then said, "I don't know Lieutenant, as they have not introduced themselves nor answered my question."

At that, the twins smiled and said while bowing, "we are Fred and George Weasley. And we would be most glad to be at the service of such a gorgeous being as yourself!"

At that, Ichigo snorted and said, "Harry is fighting their captain, and for heavens sakes do not inflate his head. He'll be insufferable about it." Indeed, at the twin's compliment he had started to do a dance all the while murmuring how he was so flattered. Both Ichigo and Ikkaku got slightly disgusted looks on their faces and Ichigo said, "Move out of the way Yumichika and let them in already, I'm going to go let Harry and Kenpachi know that they are going to have to cut their spar short." As he said the last bit, he walked out of the kitchen and yelled down the ladder, "Hey _Harry,_ your friends from last night just showed up and I think they want to talk to you!"

They all then hear a yell from below saying, "okay Ichigo, Kenpachi and I had just finished soaking in the hot spring, so as soon as we are mostly dry we'll come up."

Ichigo came back into the kitchen, and shortly afterwards Harry and a tall man followed him. As they walked into the Kitchen, they heard Fred and George ask Yumichika, "So what is your name, gorgeous?"

He smiled and replied, "My name is Yumichika Ayasegawa, Fifth seat of the Eleventh Division of the Thirteen Court Guard Squads. I serve underneath Captain Kenpachi Zaraki, also known as the Demon of Zaraki."

The twins chorused, "A lovely name for a lovely man." They smiled brightly at him.

At that, Yumichika blushed then turned to Ichigo saying, "Ichigo why did you not tell me your cousin knew such delightful people?"

Ichigo groaned and replied, "Because I knew they would expand your ego of your beauty." At that, he rolled his eyes and Kenpachi had a slightly disgusted look on his face, while Ikkaku was laughing his ass off and Yachiru cocked her head to the side in puzzlement.

Yachiru then jumped from Yumichika's shoulder to her usual perch on her Kenny's shoulder. Kenpachi glowered at Yumichika and said, "would you quit acting so fruity. It is a wonder that our division is able to keep its reputation with you around." At his last sentence, he huffed.

"Why Captain what ever do you mean by that?" as he asked that he had a coy look on his face. Meanwhile Molly had sat down next to Remus and was currently staring at her sons in shock.

Kenpachi looked toward Ikkaku and said, "explain it to him. As I do not have the patience at the moment."

Ikkaku chuckled while replying, "Yes Captain. Yumi, it is like this, as you know the reputation of the Eleventh is that we are rough and tough fighters who will die before admitting defeat. In addition, before the Lieutenant demanded that if she had to take a bath than the entire division had to take them, we were also the smelliest and dirtiest. Except for you of course because you would only be caught dirty if you had been fighting for over five hours and even then, I doubt you would be that dirty. After all according to the Captain after your fight with the lieutenant of squad Seven you were as in his words, as fruity as ever."

Yumichika pouted while he says, "well I am not about to change what makes me who I am for anyone. Besides Ikka, it is not as if you do not do things that might damage the reputation of our squad. There is your Luck-Luck dance to consider after all."

As he pointed that out Ikkaku blushed and yelled, "That is not embarrassing to the division. It is a pre-fight dance, and…"

As Ikkaku, got ready to yell some more, Yumichika interrupted with, "the only reason you do it so much is to gain Izuru's attention. I can't really tell what you see in him Ikka because really he is so timid it is almost disgusting." At that, Ikkaku blushed while muttering something about how he found it endearing. Yumichika smiled and then, "how about we agree to each his own after all the Captain takes over two hours to style his hair every morning."

Kenpachi opened the eye that was not covered by his eye patch and said, "What's wrong with that? I'm not about to let anyone do it for me, and the bell's allow my opponent to hear me coming, so that the fight is drawn out."

Harry interrupted by saying, "while it is nice that you are discussing your differences, I am going to need us to move to the dining room as it is larger than my kitchen. And I am fairly sure that Molly wants to talk to the twins." When he glanced at her, she nodded her agreement to his statement.

After the room was cleared, Molly cleared her throat then asked her sons, "are you two sure that he is the one you want?"

The twins look at each other than back to her and chorused with, "we're sure, mum!"

Then Fred said, "I don't know about George but I am drawn to him." At that, George nodded in agreement, and then Fred continued, "It's not irresistible but I don't really want to resist it. It seems to promise that if I give in I will gain everything I am looking for, everything that I did not even know I was searching for."

Molly smiled wobbly at them then said, "I know the feeling my boys, it is the same feeling that drew me to your father despite my family's opposition. Fabian and Gideon were the only ones of my family to approve of Arthur courting me. Although they never got that feeling but they had once said they would find it some day, only they died before they got the chance." At that, the twins hugged her and murmured that they loved her; she hugged them back while saying, "no matter what direction your life takes you I will always love you both."

After a few sniffles from all three of them George declares, "alright enough mushiness. We better go see what the others are up to, not to mention that I and Fred have a person to woo."

While Molly talked with the twins, Hermione was staring at Kenpachi as she did she remembered telling Harry, Ron and Neville about her dream person. She had said 'in the words of Michelle Phiffer from Grease 2, I want a dream on a mean machine with hell in his eyes,' she chuckled lightly, this Kenpachi was not on a mean machine but he certainly had hell in his eyes. She had also said 'I want a devil in skin tight leather, as wild as the wind.' Although Kenpachi was not wearing skin tight leather but damn did he certainly seemed as wild as the wind. After she thought that she was approached by the little pink haired girl who asked her, "who are you?"

Hermione smiled down at her and with her brown eyes twinkling said, "My name is Hermione. What's your name little one?"

Yachiru giggled while saying, "I'm Yachiru Kusajishi, Lieutenant of the Eleventh Division." She points at Kenpachi then says, "That's Kenny, he's the captain of the Eleventh, and over there is Baldy, he is the third seat of our squad."

Hermione cocked her head to the side and said, "Yachiru… That's a pretty name."

Yachiru smiled and said brightly, "thank you, Kenny gave it to me. Ever since then me and Kenny have been together. Are you friends with Pretty-Pretty?" She cocked her head inquisitively.

Hermione furrowed her brows in puzzlement then asked in a confused tone of voice, "Pretty-Pretty? Who is Pretty-Pretty?"

Harry laughed while saying, "I think she means me Hermione. Yes, Yachiru, she is my friend. Her, me and Ron have been friends since I was eleven." As he spoke he smiled softly down at the ancient toddler.

Yachiru grinned at him and launched herself at him, after Harry caught her easily she chirped, "thanks for playing with Ken-Chan. I can tell he had a lot of fun."

Harry smiled down at her and replied, "You're welcome, Yachiru. But I had a lot of fun playing with Kenpachi as well. It has been a while since I was able to cut loose like that." As he said that, he surprised most of the order by getting a bloodthirsty look on his face, although the Twins, Ron, Hermione, Ichigo, Remus, Severus and Sirius were completely unsurprised by it.

Shortly before Yachiru thanked Harry for playing with Kenpachi, Molly and the twins exited the Kitchen. At Harry's comment that he had fun playing with Kenpachi, Hermione raised her eyebrow then asked, "What do you mean by playing, Harry?"

At that Kenpachi looked at her, then said in a gravely tone of voice, "what does it sound like, we fought."

At Hermione's shocked look, Harry interjected, "we were sparring using swords. I have not been able to spar since I started Hogwarts as during the summer I have been to busy to sneak over here and ask Kisuke to send someone to spar with me."

"Oh, that is a bit of a relief. I thought for a moment you meant how you and Malfoy fight." Hermione said all this very fast then breathed a sigh of relief.

Harry shook his head while quipping, "no, not like I fight with Malfoy. If I fought with Malfoy like I just did with Kenpachi I would end up breaking him into little pieces." Kenpachi at first had looked interested, clearly thinking about challenging this Malfoy to a fight then after hearing how a little spar would break him settled back down looking disgusted.

Yumichika looked at his captain then commented, "You know Captain. I don't think I've seen you this happy since you fought Ichigo for the first time. It's too bad that you won't be able to play with Harry until next summer once he starts school again."

At that, Kenpachi looked up then said with a maniacal grin, "Nah, I got a plan for that. I'll just request that I be sent for hollow extermination and go challenge him to a spar at his school."

Harry laughed then said with an eager grin on his face, "believe me Kenpachi that is one challenge I will gladly accept. That is if the Headmaster doesn't have any objections to that?"

At his question, he looked over at the headmaster, who merely smiled and said, "No my boy I have no objections so long as neither of you sustain life threatening injuries. If you do I am afraid Madam Pomfrey would have my head as a mantle piece."

At that, Yumichika smiled then murmured while chuckling lightly, "she sounds a lot like Unohana-Taicho." Ikkaku snorted but agreed.

Albus smiled at Harry and asked, "Harry could you introduce your friends please?"

Harry cocked an eyebrow at him and said, "Well they are more Ichigo's friends then mine but sure. Over there standing with Hermione is Captain Kenpachi Zaraki and Lieutenant Yachiru Kusajishi of the Eleventh Division of the Thirteen court guard squads. Their division is known to be the roughest and toughest of all the divisions. They are also known to die before accepting aide in a fight, they consider it the highest dishonor to interfere in another's fight as it would imply that the other person is weak and thus not a true member of the division. Sitting by Ichigo is the Third seat of the Eleventh Division Ikkaku Madarame, he has been friends with Yumichika for a while, and has been loyal to Kenpachi ever since being beaten by him in a fight."

Yumichika smirked then drawled out, "that's not quite true. As I recall Ikka demanded that Kenpachi kill him after their fight so he would not have to live with the shame of defeat. Ikka became loyal to Kenpachi after he gave him some advice to consider himself lucky as most people died by his blade and few ever gave him as good of a fight as Ikkaku just did."

Ikkaku snarled, "Oh, shut up Yumi." At his snarl all Yumichika did was laugh and lean back into the twins' chests who had come over to stand near him.

Harry chuckled and gestured toward them while saying, "Yumichika already introduced himself but for those of you who were not here when he did, I'll introduce him to you. Standing by the Weasley twins is Yumichika Ayasegawa, Fifth seat of the Eleventh division and according to Shuhei Hisagi, the only reason he is not the fourth or third seat is because Ikkaku is the third seat and he thinks the number four is most unbeautiful. In his opinion the number three is the most beautiful with five a close second."

At Harry's last sentence, Yumichika nodded in agreement, "true the number three is the most beautiful."

Ikkaku looked at him and asked indignantly, "then why do you rag on me for liking Izuru? He is the lieutenant of squad three, with that attitude I would think you would be happy about me liking him!"

Yumichika smirked and said, "I only rag on you because when it comes to him and your head, you are so easy to tease."

Ikkaku growled and lunged at him, snarling out, "why you…"

All Yumichika does is dodge out of the way using shunpo and calls out, "now, now Ikka calm down."

As the two raced past Kenpachi, he grabbed them and growled while glaring down at them, "alright settle down you two. I want to be able to come back here for fights later on, you know, and if you make it to where I cannot I will let Yachiru have as much candy as she wants then sic her on you two. Got it?"

The two men chorused together with terrified looks on their faces, "yes Captain!"

The whole time Ikkaku had been chasing Yumichika the Order was staring in shock while Ichigo and Orihime were chatting as if nothing was happening. Harry briefly glanced at the Headmaster then said after turning back to Kenpachi, "thank you Kenpachi. Headmaster, what exactly are we going to be discussing?"

Albus smiled then said happily, "I believe that Kingsley needs ask you, Hermione, Ronald, Sirius and Remus some questions as to the night of the last full moon of your third year."

Hermione raised her hand and after the headmaster looked at her in askance she spoke, "Headmaster could we also give witness as to Buckbeak's innocence of the crime that he was going to be executed for?"

At that question, Kingsley raised his left eyebrow, and asked her, "What do you mean by that?"

After the trio exchanged looks, Harry took over the explanation, "our first lesson in care of magical Creatures was Hippogriffs. Hagrid warned everyone not to insult them as they are very proud creatures, however when Malfoy was in the pen with Buckbeak he insulted him by calling him a '**great ugly brute**' which was quite stupid of him actually."

Much to everyone's shock, Snape's ebony eyes flash dangerously and he growls out with a snarl on his face, "that is not how Mr. Malfoy explained it. It seems that the two of us need to have a chat about not lying to his godfather. Continue please _Harry_ as I will need to know what else he has been lying to me about I will need to speak with you later about several incidents that he came to me about." It was plain from the look on his face that he was most disappointed in his godson's actions.

Minerva blinked in shock then cried out, "Severus what do you mean by that?"

Severus looked at her and said, "simple Minerva, if he was willing to lie to me about this what else has he lied to me about."

Harry cocked his head to the left and said, "hypothetically Uncle 'Rus. What would you do if he had called someone a Mudblood?"

Severus looked at his goddaughter sharply and said, "He would get detention for over two weeks for using that despicable word. Why do you want to know? Did he use it?" Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Hermione bite her lower lip and try to signal to the boys not to say it. Severus' snarled and said, "Don't bother I already know he did. Rest assured Miss Granger I will be speaking to him about his behavior, especially to someone under the protection of the heir of a greater house then him." Both ignored the odd looks that the order members shot them at the 'Uncle 'Rus' comment.

At that, everyone except Ichigo, Sirius, Remus, Albus, Minerva, Harry and Moody looked confused and Orihime asked, "What do you mean under the protection of a greater house?"

Sirius snorted and explained, "The Potter's are one of the most ancient houses of the Wizarding world not to mention how many other noble families married into it. Which included the Most Ancient and Royal House of Noir from France, the Black family is descended from the same house due to line theft, however they cannot claim the riches or indeed the prestige that the Potter family can due to Alexandra Noir marrying James Potter in 1815 and begetting Andrew Potter in 1820. When the French line died out in 1978, at the will reading held afterwards the Malfoy family was not invited, however I was due to my friendship to James. In the will it stipulated that only the heir of Alexandra could inherit the Vaults and properties of the Noir family however the titles could be held by any of her male descendants."

Minerva frowned and asked, "What do you mean by that Sirius, surely she left her estate to her son."

Remus laughed and said, "Nope, according to James she stipulated in her will that her Vaults and Properties were to be held in trust until a female was born to the Potter line. As such, the only one who can inherit the Noir fortune and Properties is a female Potter. In other words the Malfoy family absolutely cannot inherit due to them having a male heir."

Minerva frowned then said, "But that also excludes Harry unless he has a daughter."

This time it was Sirius who laughed, "I wouldn't worry about that Minerva. If my godchild's dreams are any indication, a female will be born to the line."

This time most of the order raises their eyebrows and chorused, "dreams? What do dreams have to do with anything?"

Harry, Sirius, Severus, Remus, Ichigo and Dora look at each other then collapse laughing. Kenpachi frowned then said while glaring at them, "explain why that question is so funny. I don't like being left out of jokes."

After they calmed their breathing down, Dora leaned forward and started to explain, "The Noir family cursed the Black family to have dreams about their soul mate starting at the age of five and continuing either until they met their mate or until the age of twenty. Once the dreams start, no one else will do for the person having the dreams, if their soul mate refuses them they will never marry nor date. Usually in the dreams we see snippets of the future, I for instance saw myself sitting with my soul mate watching as his best friend tried to escape doing paperwork to nap. I do not know what Sirius, James or Harry saw, but I saw myself wearing a ring on my left ring finger, so I know I marry him. I just don't know when I will meet him or precisely when we marry."

Ichigo raised his eyebrow and asked her, "I don't suppose this soul mate of yours has green eyes and white hair, or that his best friends name is Shunsui?"

Dora gaped at him and exclaimed, "How do you know that!"

Ichigo sighed and said, "Your soul mates name is Jushiro Ukitake, Captain of the Thirteenth Division of the Thirteen court guard squads. Congratulations, you are going to have a hell of a time convincing him that he is worthy of your attentions, be prepared for a long uphill battle with him."

Dora pouted for a moment before she got a determined look on her face and said resolutely, "well I am going to marry him even if I have to pound that fact into his thick head." After she said that she pointed at Ichigo while saying, "Be prepared to have me pump you for information on him."

Ichigo chuckled and said, "No problem cousin."

At that, Dora goggled at him, "what do you mean by that!"

Sirius snickered and said, "Dora, he is Masaki's son."

Dora smacked herself then said, "Well I feel like an idiot. So Ichigo what did you dream?"

Ichigo laughed while saying; "now that is a secret. However I will tell you who I dreamed of if you want."

At that, everyone leaned forward and Dora said with a smirk, "alright who did you dream of?"

Ichigo said while chuckling darkly, "his name is Byakuya Kuchiki and he is the Captain of the Sixth division. In my dreams, I was quite close to his adopted sister Rukia, so when I met Rukia for the first time I very nearly gave her a hug instead of demanding just why she was ignoring me. I was very unhappy with him when he declared that if Rukia's execution was stopped he would kill her himself."

Yachiru blinked and then asked, "Is that way you do things to annoy him on purpose, Ichi?"

Ichigo looked at her startled but replied, "yes Yachiru that is why I do things that I know annoy him. Well actually, I somewhat forgave him for that when he protected her from Gin's attack but he very nearly broke his promise to me. I may have forgiven him but that does not mean he can escape his punishment for doing it in the first place."

Ikkaku raised his right eyebrow at that last statement, "what do you mean nearly broke his promise to you? He never met you before he went to go retrieve Rukia."

At that, Ichigo shook his head and asked, "How much do you know about the process of reincarnation?"

Yumichika put his left forefinger to his lower lip and replied, "Not much actually. Why?"

Ichigo snorted and said, "Simple, Hisana Kuchiki was granted reincarnation two years after Kaien Shiba was. However, before her death she overheard the Kuchiki clan council saying that she could not keep her memories even if she chose an area not patrolled by Shinigami. So when the guards told her to chose where she would be reincarnated she knocked both of them out of the way and dived through the same portal that Kaien chose as she knew they would not risk having him remember his life as a Shinigami."

Sirius interjected with, "to bad for them that I was reincarnated into the Black family and one of my first dreams was about my previous life with my soul mate. You see my soul mate had died only minutes before I had and was also granted immediate reincarnation. The second dream however was about my soul mates current incarnation."

At that, Ichigo snorted before commenting, "Yeah they really did not count on us both being born into the Black family, right Brother?" to which Sirius smirked and nodded in agreement.

At that, Dora looked puzzled, she then questioned them, "Why did you call Sirius your brother? He is your cousin not your brother."

At that, Sirius and Ichigo looked at each other amused then Ichigo explained, "My first reincarnation was Regulus Black, who was Sirius' younger brother. I died in that life on July 8th, 1979, since I accepted my death before I died I was allowed the choice of either going onto soul society or immediate reincarnation, and unknown to the two guards I remembered that you lose your memories after a while in soul society. Unfortunately, I had just obtained information that had to be passed on. After I knocked both of the guards out of the way, I dived through the portal. I managed to hear before doing so one of the guards say 'how about we don't report about this ones escape either,' the other guard agreed. So I have the feeling that they never told the Kuchiki clan that my memories were not erased." As he spoke he got a slightly devious expression on his face.

Ikkaku and Yumichika raise their eyebrows and queried, "So in other words. You are the reincarnation of Captain Kuchiki's wife and he doesn't know it."

Then Ikkaku turns to Sirius and stated, "And you are the reincarnation of Kaien Shiba, the former Lieutenant of Squad Thirteen."

Sirius and Ichigo looked amused at their reactions to that but nod.

Ikkaku started to laugh manically and Yumichika smirked before commenting, "Well it's no wonder why you are so close to Rukia. She is your little sister from your life as Hisana Kuchiki. It is also no wonder you were so determined to rescue her despite her demanding that you leave her to die. My guess as to why you annoy Captain Kuchiki is because although he was torn between his two promises, even the fact that he allowed himself to become injured to protect Rukia would not stop you from exacting punishment for nearly allowing her to be killed in the first place."

Ichigo smirked and retorted, "You are right, that is why I adore annoying him." He then turns to Sirius and asked, "So is your zanpakuto's name still the same?"

Sirius looked up slightly startled but replied, "Yeah, I managed to go into my inner world while in Azkaban. I was glad to see that she was alright, she became my only company while in there and she kept reassuring me that we would get out one day, after all they would have to give me a trial one day. When I saw how close Pettigrew was to my godchild I decided enough was enough and I was going to break out. When I broke out, she commented that she told me we would get out of there one day. I sniped back that we thought we would get out of there legally, not illegally. Why do you want to know?"

Ichigo laughed and asked, "How would you like to use her again?"

Sirius stared at him almost hungrily, "please tell me you are not just toying with me."

Ichigo went into the study and came back with a badge that he tossed to Sirius, he quipped, "go ahead, Jushiro gave me that to use."

Sirius looked down at the badge then pressed it against his chest; his body fell back into the chair behind him while his spirit body stayed standing. He was wearing the same outfit as the four eleventh squad members except he had a smaller sword across his back. After walking over to the mirror and looking at his reflection he stepped away and pulled his sword out of its sheath then called out, "Rankle the Seas and Skies, Nejibana!" Everyone watched as the sword transformed into a trident like weapon. After he had done that and had been staring at it for several minutes they all heard the badge start to shriek. Sirius got a vicious look on his face, looked at the shinigami, and asked them, "I don't suppose you would let me get that one would you?"

Kenpachi snorted and said, "Go ahead, it's too weak for me to have much fun fighting."

Sirius then looked at Ichigo, who after shrugging said, "If you want to go ahead. However you might want to leave Nejibana in her sealed form, when she is in shikai she is a little recognizable." Sirius nods in acknowledgement and with a small pulse of energy causes her to revert back to her sealed form. He then raced out of the house with a gleeful look on his face.

Harry snorted before slyly asking, "Well while Sirius is having fun, what shall we discuss?"

Dora raised her eyebrows at him then said, "Well you are the only member of the Black family that has yet to speak of your dreams."

Hermione interrupted with, "what I don't understand, is how is Harry a Black?"

Harry laughed and said, "Simple 'Mione. My grandfather Charlus Potter married Dorea Black and had my Dad, I am not only Sirius' godchild but I am also his cousin." After Hermione gained a look of comprehension, Harry looked at Dora and said, "As for my dreams, my first dream was actually of a previous life, where I had been a woman. My soul mates name in that life was Minato Namikaze and mine was Kushina Uzumaki, we had one son who we named Naruto. The two of us died shortly after our son was born, I can only hope that my son was treated right, and if he was not heaven help anyone that hurt him when I get a hold of them." Harry all but growled out his last sentence, unknown to him at that moment quite a few people in Konoha got chills up their spines.

Remus and Severus look at Harry in shock then exclaimed, "Just what do you mean by that?"

Harry looked at them and said, "For you to understand you need some background information. How much do you two know about the elemental countries?"

Remus looks puzzled but replies, "not too much. Only that they sealed themselves away from both the muggle and wizarding world about the same time as Hogwarts was founded. It was rumored that the four founders actually came from the elemental countries but no one knows for sure. Why?"

Harry smiled wryly and said, "Because that was where I lived as Kushina Uzumaki. In the elemental countries there are nine beasts known as the tailed beasts the highest in rank is the Kyuubi the nine-tailed fox. There are people known as Jinchuuriki, the Jinchuuriki are the hosts of nine powerful beasts, called the tailed beasts. Their names are from one to nine, Shukaku, Nibi, Sanbi, Yonbi, Gobi, Rokubi, Shichibi, Hachibi, and Kyuubi. Each of the Jinchuuriki resided in different parts of the elemental countries, the first Hokage's wife Mito was from the same clan as I was and was the Jinchuuriki to Kyuubi. When she neared her death, I had been chosen to be the next host as we shared many similar traits. At first, I resented being the Jinchuuriki to Kyuubi but in the end, I chose to fill my life with my love for Minato. When my son was born he had been kidnapped by Madera Uchiha who wanted the Kyuubi for himself, though god only knows why."

Harry sighed and went on, "in the end my husband had no choice but to seal the Kyuubi inside our son, as such he gave his life as payment for the sealing. His last request was that our son be treated like a hero, however usually Jinchuuriki are treated as less than dirt, but Minato would not allow anything bad to be said of me. In fact, the reason I allowed him the chance to pursue me was that he adored the one feature of me that I hated. My blood red hair, he often said it resembled a living flame, Minato and I died on the same day my child was born, October 10th. I can only hope that the current Hokage is not using my son as a weapon like many wished to use me."

At the same moment that Harry made that comment in Konoha the third Hokage looked up from his paper work and muttered, "why do I suddenly feel as if someone is approving of something I did." He then shrugged and went back to eliminating his dreaded nemesis 'paperwork.' The ANBU in the room looked at each other but shrugged having no idea what their Hokage was talking about.

As everyone blinked at the overload of information, Kenpachi raised an eye ridge and asked, "So the people of these countries like fighting?"

Harry looked amused and replied, "sort of. Some of them do like fighting for the sake of fighting, however most Shinobi only do so if ordered by their Kage. Which for the country of fire would be the Hokage and for Wind it would be the Kazekage and for Mist, it would be Mizukage. I'm fairly sure some might challenge you to a fight if you meet them."

Kenpachi grinned and said, "If you ever go back there I might request to go with you to see if hollow's form there as well."

Harry shrugged and said, "Do whatever you want. If I go back, I will expect you to show up to give me a good spar but I doubt I would stay there for good. After all to them Kushina Uzumaki is dead along with Minato Namikaze, so Kisuke and I cannot just show up out of the blue."

After Harry was done saying that Sirius showed back up grinning his head off, and he said, "Well that was fun. I found out what a Dementor actually is!"

At that statement, the Order goggles at him, and Remus asked, "Say what? What do you mean you found out what Dementors are?"

Harry held up his right and said while groaning, "Don't tell me that Dementors are a form of hollows."

Sirius grinned excitedly and said while bouncing in place, "Okay I won't."

Harry sighed and said, "Well that will make things easier if the Dementors join Moldy Voldy again." Sirius nods in agreement while bouncing in place, Harry then turns to Kingsley and says, "I suppose we should discuss how to bring his lack of a trial to Madam Bones' attention."

Kingsley shook his head and said, "That was actually the easy part, and all I had to do was say that I tried to look up his trial transcripts to see if there might be a clue of where he would head to ground at. Then when I did not find the transcripts I remembered something I overheard two years back about how Harry Potter claimed he saw Peter Pettigrew alive and well. So I decided to talk to him and the other two who were with him that night, I brought a pensive to view their memories with and after watching them I was convinced a serious miscarriage of justice was done. Then I asked her if she would be willing to look at your memories herself along with Auror Scrimgeour. Both have agreed to do so in approximately two hours and she has also said she would be willing to listen to both Severus and Remus about their evidence concerning the Potters."

Sirius looked at him with hope in his eyes, "really you mean it. They are willing to listen to Harry, Ron and Hermione this time."

Kingsley smiled at him and nodded, "indeed they are. I suggest that Sirius go along with Severus and Remus in his animagus form after all you have already served the sentence for being an illegal animagus six times over."

At that, Sirius tackled Kingsley and said, "If I were not so devoted to my soul mate I would kiss you right now."

Kingsley chuckled while saying, "You are not really my type Sirius."

Harry interjected in an offhand tone with, "yeah I seen his type and you are far removed from it."

Kingsley raised his left eyebrow, "when did you see what my type is?"

Harry mirrored him and then said sarcastically, "dreams, duh. You were married at the time my daughter was born, to a lovely woman named Nanao who appeared to be pregnant."

At that Ichigo snickered in amusement, Dora looked at him in confusion then asked, "what is so amusing, Ichigo?"

Ichigo smirked at her then drawled, "It would appear that Kingsley will be married to your husbands' best friends Lieutenant, Nanao Isa. From what I can remember from my life as Hisana, he is going to have quite the time on his hands, she is a fiery woman."

At that statement Kingsley swayed in shock, and Dora waved her hand in front of his face while saying, "Wow I don't think I have ever seen Kingsley like this before."

Harry hummed then murmured, "If this shocked him perhaps I should not tell him about his future job. Yes I think I will keep that little nugget of information to myself at least until he gets it then I will say I always knew."

At that everyone including the headmaster and Shinigami's stare at him in exasperation, the only ones who did not were the marauders, Severus, Orihime and Ichigo.

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	8. Chapter 7: Innocence Proven

Chapter Seven: Innocence Proven

Less than two hours after Sirius found out that Dementors are a form of hollow, Kingsley Shacklebolt was leading the Golden Trio as well as Severus and Remus through the ministry to see Madam Bones about Sirius' innocence of the crimes of murder and betrayal as well as securing her help in locating the Potters. He led them across the Atrium to the lifts; they briefly stopped by the check in station where their wands are recorded along with why they are there. The six then proceed to the lifts where Kingsley pressed the button for Level 2, he then turned to Ron and casually mentioned, "This is the same level your father works on."

Hermione looked interested along with Harry and they chorused, "Really?"

Remus, Severus and Snuffles all nodded, and Remus remarked, "Yes, as a matter of fact. James also used to work on this floor, both Sirius and he were Aurors, Sirius used to joke that most of his family never got to see this department like he did." Remus smirked in remembrance at Sirius' gloating.

Kingsley smiled and remarked, "I never knew that Sirius used to be an Auror."

Remus snorted and replied with a slightly dark look on his face, "I highly doubt that he would have spoke of it nor would anyone who once worked with him. Since they believed him to be capable of betraying his partner, I also doubt that he would willingly join up again until there is a Minister who he actually can respect running the ministry. Sirius can hold a grudge for a long time, longer than most people would think he could." At that comment, Snuffles barked to agree with the statement.

Then the lift doors opened showing several Aurors at their desks, either doing paperwork or talking to one another about cases. Kingsley leads them down the narrow hallway with windows to the left until they reach a bend in the hallway to the left; he then leads them past six cubicles to a doorway across from a hall. Where upon he knocked sharply on the door and they heard booming voice call out, "enter."

Kingsley pushed down the lever style door handle and pulled the door open; he then preceded the Trio into the room. Directly facing the doorway was a large desk, seated at the desk was a woman with short gray hair and a square jaw, she wore a monocle. Standing by the desk was a man with tawny hair streaked with gray, he was wearing wire rimmed glasses, as Kingsley walked in both looked up and the man spoke, "ah, right on time Kingsley. Are these the witnesses?"

"Yes they are," as Kingsley answered the question, the Trio stepped carefully into the room with Ron and Hermione flanking Harry. Something that both Madam Bones and Head Auror Scrimgeour took note of, it would seem these supposed children were used to having to be wary of their surroundings. Madam Bones gestured for them to be seated in the four chairs in front of her desk.

As they seated themselves, she interlaced her fingers then said while looking Kingsley in the eye, "I had Rufus double check to make sure that the files for the Sirius Black trial had not simply been misplaced. However, it would seem that no such files exist; we found files for all other Death eater trials but none for Sirius Black. By all rights, it was he that should have been questioned in the first place, as supposedly being the one to sell the Potters to the Dark Lord. There is no excuse not to have granted a trial even if all evidence pointed to him." She then looked at the Trio and asked brusquely, "Are there any questions you wish to ask?"

At that Ron and Hermione look toward Harry as if to ask 'well what do you think?' Harry took a deep breath before looking her in the eye and asked her, "will you actually listen to us and not believe we have been confounded like Minister Fudge claimed we were on June 9th of 1994?"

At that question both Rufus and Madam Bones frown, Madam Bones then asks while having a steely look in her eye, "what do you mean claimed you had been confounded? Did he have you examined before claiming such a thing?"

This time Hermione answered, "No he did not Madam. I later asked Madam Pomfrey whether a person without Mediwitch/Mediwizard training could identify if some one had been confounded. Her answer was no, as even an Obliviator is required to receive Mediwitch/Mediwizard training before starting their job. I later looked into Fudge's career before becoming Minister, he never received such training. Why did you want to know that?"

This time Rufus answered the question, "Because even if you had been confounded he should have ceased all action until it had been confirmed by a Mediwitch or Mediwizard. The fact that he did not is a very suspicious looking incident. Are the three of you willing to submit your memories as evidence to Sirius Black's innocence of the crime of the Murder of Peter Pettigrew?"

As one, the Trio answer, "yes."

"Our memories should also give sufficient evidence to prove he may not be guilty of the Betrayal of the Potters as well." Hermione added softly.

Remus and Severus were sitting inside the office on either side of the doorway with Snuffles at Severus' feet with his tongue lolling out of his mouth in an almost amused expression. As the Trio chorused Snuffles snorted, Madam Bones and Rufus Scrimgeour looked up at them and Madam Bones asked, "Auror Shacklebolt told us you have memories to corroborate theirs, correct?"

Remus straightens in his seat and answers with a calm voice, "yes Madam Bones. However it would be Severus memories that would be most convincing."

Auror Scrimgeour interjects with, "as I recall he was the one that captured Black on the night of June 9th 1994. Why did he not come forward with his evidence until now?"

Severus looked him in the eye and said sardonically, "because the Memory Charm placed on me by Lily Potter did not break until yesterday."

Madam Bones and Rufus look startled then Amelia asks, "Why would she have placed a memory charm on you?"

Severus snorted and replied, "I had been one of Lily's many spies more specifically her only spy within the inner circle for over two years when all of her spies had started to hear rumors that the Dark Lord suspected one of the inner circle to be a spy. For her, James and Harry's safety along with that of my spouse, I decided that it would be best to have her put a memory charm on me. Along with the memory charm, I had her put a compulsion to have me go to Headmaster Dumbledore and offer to be a spy for him. She placed two safe guards on the memory charm, that way it would be able to break without her. I would suggest that you look at the children's memories first."

"Very well, Miss Granger, Mr. Weasley and Mr. Potter, if you would please place your memories into the pensive we will begin," said Madam Bones. As Harry was the closest to the Pensive, he stood up and walked up to the desk and put his wand to his temple, after closing his eyes to concentrate, he pulled the wand away from its position. On the end of the wand was a silvery strand, which he then placed into the pensive and then once again placed his wand to his temple to draw out another memory. He did this three more times before allowing Hermione to put in her memories, as he moved away he was glad Headmaster Dumbledore explained how to remove your memories from your mind and how to retrieve them from a pensive. Hermione only put in two memories. However, Ron put in three.

Harry had placed the memories of the night Quirell tried to steal the stone, the conversation he had with Tom Riddle in the chamber, the First class of Care of Magical Creatures in order to prove that Draco Malfoy disobeyed Hagrid's orders and insulted the Hippogriff. He also placed the entire night of June 9th of nineteen ninety four.

Hermione had placed the memory of the night June 9th of nineteen ninety four as well as the memory of the minister arriving at Hogwarts to take Hagrid to Azkaban.

While Ron had placed the same memories as Hermione as well as his memory of the night of Ginny being taken into the chamber of Secrets and Lockhart trying to skip out without trying to fight the Basilisk.

After they were done Madam Bones called up Remus to put his memories of the night of June 9th into the pensive as well. However, she told Severus to wait on his memories until they were done viewing the others, because his may not be needed at all. After he did so Madam Bones turned toward the children and explained, "This is a special pensive. It is not like the one, that Auror Shacklebolt used to view your memories. This pensive projects the memory above itself in order for an entire room to view the contents of the memory. Understand?" After the three nodded their understanding, she reached over to the pensive and pressed down on a rune, which activated the projection aspect of the pensive.

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After the memories played out both Madam Bones and Head Auror Scrimgeour leaned back against the chair and wall respectively. Madam Bones then sighed and turned toward Rufus saying, "Let the Aurors know that if Sirius Black is spotted they are to try to capture him alive and unharmed. I wish to question him on the events of November 1st 1981, and his breakout from Azkaban."

At that Severus cleared his throat and once Madam Bones was looking at him asked, "does that mean if Sirius Black was to present himself, he would merely be questioned and not given the kiss?" After Madam Bones and Head Auror Scrimgeour nodded in response to his question, Severus looked down at the black dog lying at his feet. He then says to it, "alright, Snuffles, you silly mutt, you heard them."

Both Madam Bones and Scrimgeour looked confused at that comment, but watched as the black dog got up and stretched its body, then as it padded over to the desk it transformed into a man. The man was wearing a pair of faded denim jeans, black Dragonhide boots and a black t-shirt with the phrase 'I hear voices and they don't like you' written on it. He had waist length black hair and blue-gray eyes, he stopped just behind Harry's chair and said while giving a mocking bow, "Sirius Tiberius Black, presenting myself for questioning concerning the events of November 1st 1981 and my breakout from Azkaban."

After he said that Madam Bones caught a glimpse of Severus Snape burying his head into his hands while muttering 'what a shameless mutt,' truth is she quite agreed with the Potion's Master. She then cleared her throat and stated, "you're an unregistered animagus, Mr. Black. Such a thing would normally cost you a fine of 1,000 galleons and two years within Azkaban, however due to you spending twelve years in Azkaban with out a trial, the fee will be waived and the prison time will be marked as already served. If your testimony under Veritaserum clears you of any wrong doing save breaking out of Azkaban and you being an illegal animagus, then I will see to you getting compensation for being held without a trial."

Sirius raised an eyebrow but nodded in agreement, he then waited while Head Auror Rufus Scrimgeour went to get the Veritaserum for his questioning. It was clear from his demeanor that he was not worried about being questioned in fact he looked relieved.

Once Auror Scrimgeour came back, Madam Bones set up the dictation quill so it would record the questions and answers of the interrogation. "Madam Amelia Bones presiding over the questioning of Sirius Black concerning the nights of November 1st 1981 and his 1993 breakout from Azkaban, I will now have the witness state their full names and occupations."

"Hermione Jane Granger, Hogwarts student, Gryffindor fifth year." As she said that she sat straight backed in her chair, with her chin raised defiantly.

"Ronald Billius Weasley, Hogwarts student, Gryffindor fifth year." He commented almost lazily.

"Remus John Lupin, Werewolf, unemployed." Remus drawled with amusement in his voice.

"Severus Tobias Snape, Hogwarts Potions Professor." He practically sneered while speaking.

"Kingsley Shacklebolt, Auror for the Ministry of Magic." Kingsley stated that as calmly as he did everything else.

"Rufus Scrimgeour, Head Auror for the Ministry of Magic." It was plain not only from his tone of voice but also from his demeanor that he had done this many times before.

"Harry James Potter, Hogwarts student, Gryffindor fifth year, part time baker for a candy shop." As he made the last comment, he almost giggled at the look on Madam Bones' and Auror Scrimgeour's face.

After clearing her throat Madam Bones continued with, "Head Auror Scrimgeour will now administer Veritaserum to Sirius Tiberius Black; after he has been dosed we will ask some standard questions to ensure that the Veritaserum is working correctly." As she spoke, Scrimgeour walked over to Sirius who opened his mouth without argument and swallowed the Potion. "Notation Mr. Black took the Veritaserum willingly. We will know begin questioning the suspect."

Harry had vacated his seat and Sirius sat down in it, Madam Bones looked him in the eye and asked, "What is your full name?"

"Sirius Tiberius Black"

"What is your date of birth?"

"September 23rd of 1959."

"Do you have any siblings?"

"Yes."

"How many, what is their occupation and what are their names?"

"One brother, deceased, his name was Regulus Arcturus Black."

"What are the names of your former dorm mates at Hogwarts?"

"Peter Pettigrew, Remus Lupin and James Potter."

"What is your relationship to Harry James Potter?"

"Godfather." As Sirius was speaking Madam Bones was checking his answers to the known data.

Madam Bones then sat back with a sigh and stated, "All answers match known data, the Veritaserum is working. We will now begin the questioning of what happened on the day of November 1st 1981." She then turns back to Sirius and asks, "What did you do on November 1st, from the time you found out about the attack on the Potters to the time you were arrested?"

Sirius answered with a slightly glazed look in his eyes, "I went to Godric's Hollow where I found Hagrid coming out of Lion's Cottage, I asked him to give me my godchild, and he refused stating that Dumbledore wanted Harry brought to him. Since I knew that the Headmaster would not put my godchild in danger, I lent Hagrid my motorbike as my pup had been wailing and riding on my bike had always calmed Harry down enough to sleep. After Hagrid, left with Harry I could not bear to go into the house and see the bodies so I went to Peters flat to find out just how Voldemort could have discovered their location. I found his flat in disarray, at first I thought he had been kidnapped and tortured into telling, however I noticed that certain belongings were missing, and the death eaters would not bother taking those. Peter was running. I knew one of his first actions would be to go to Gringotts so I headed to Diagon Ally, to head him off. I tried to corner him, but he shouted out 'How could you Sirius? How could you betray Lily and James?' he then blew up the street and after cutting off his finger fled down the sewer in his animagus form. I could not believe that little rat got the better of me, he framed me perfectly; someone stunned me then the next thing I know I am waking up in a cell in Azkaban. Crouch didn't even bother to give me a trial."

Amelia closed her eyes then opened them after taking a deep breath, she then asked, "What were your intentions behind your break out from Azkaban? And how did you escape?" She leaned over her desk with her elbows resting on the desk and her intertwined hands propping up her head.

Sirius blinked slowly but answered in the same slightly flat tone, "I had gotten a copy of the Daily Prophet from Minister Fudge, on the front page was a picture of the Weasley family and on the shoulder of the youngest son I had seen a familiar rat. Of course, I knew that rat; I had seen him transform too many times not to recognize him. The paper stated that the boy would be returning to Hogwarts for his third year, I realized Peter was at Hogwarts with Harry. He was perfectly positioned to act, if one hint reached his ears that the Dark Side was gathering strength again. He would be ready to strike at the moment he could be sure of allies and to deliver the last Potter to them. If he gave them Harry, who would dare say he had betrayed Lord Voldemort? He would be welcomed back with honors… You see no one knew the castle the way the four of us did so even if Harry was not in Gryffindor he would be able to get to him, and who would suspect a rat. It was as if someone had lit a fire in my head, and the Dementors could not destroy it… It was not a happy feeling… it was an obsession… but it gave me strength, it cleared my mind. Therefore, one night when they opened my door to bring food, I slipped past them as a dog… It is so much harder for them to sense animal emotions that they were confused… I was thin; very thin… thin enough to slip through the bars… I swam as a dog back to the mainland… I journeyed north and slipped into the Hogwarts grounds as a dog."

Madam Bones had closed her eyes during his explanation, once he was finished she opened her eyes and said, "Give him the antidote Rufus, I have heard enough." After Auror Scrimgeour gave Sirius the antidote to Veritaserum, she looked him in the eye and said, "I have heard testimony from four witnesses as well as viewed memories from the four. I hereby dismiss all charges pressed against Sirius Tiberius Black, by the Ministry of Magic. I will issue a formal statement to the press about the evidence that cleared you as well as having a notation made in your file that you are an animagus. I will also have you registered with the proper authorities, until then I will relinquish custody of you to the Headmaster of Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore. Or to a person of the Headmasters choosing." With that she picked up the piece of paper, duplicated it and placed the duplication in the file. She then placed the first inside a folder and placed the folder inside her desk.

The Trio, Remus and Severus all were relieved, and Harry tackled Sirius while exclaiming, "you're free, Sirius, you're free!" Sirius gave a barking laugh and while holding his godchild around the waist spun in a circle.

Both Amelia and Rufus looked at the two amused before Madam Bones cleared her throat and said, "of course there is still the other matter you wished to speak to me about."

Remus cleared his throat and said, "When Severus' memory charm broke he remembered what exactly could cause it to break. The one that caused it to break was a key phrase, that only Severus called Sirius, so it was safe to make that one of the charm breakers. Since to everyone else Sirius and Severus hated each other no one would ever guess that Severus had a pet name for Sirius. Severus found a letter written to him by Sirius, which had the phrase written in it, thus the memory charm broke. The thing is the memory charm should have already broken due to the only other key event."

Severus took over the explanation, "Lily had connected the disbursement of the charm to happen only if one of two things happened, one was if I heard or read a key phrase and the other was Lily's death."

Madam Bones raised her left eyebrow and said slowly, "in other words it should have broken on October 31st 1981. If it only broke recently then, there can be only one explanation for it. Lily Potter is not dead as believed."

Remus looked at her and smiled, "that is what Severus and I concluded as well. However, that got me thinking, without their bodies, there was no real way to say definitively that both Lily and James were dead. Hagrid was the only person to see the inside of the house when he went to retrieve Harry, however I spoke to him when I worked at Hogwarts in 1993 and he told me he never saw their bodies just their wands. He hadn't paid much attention to finding their bodies because Harry had been wailing in his crib, and he was more concerned about getting Harry out before the house collapsed."

Madam Bones nodded and replied, "I can understand his reaction. The problem with us checking was the wards surrounding the Potter's Cottage repelled everyone who came near them. There was no way for us to check."

Sirius smirked while remarking, "Actually if you had brought Harry to the house you could have easily passed the wards. The wards were keyed to select individuals so no one could enter the house without a Potter inside the house. The only people who could enter Lion's Cottage without a Potter already present inside were Remus, Severus, and I. Peter was not trusted, he was to only be a temporary secret keeper until Remus got back into the country then the charm would be switched to Remus without Peter being any the wiser for it."

Scrimgeour raised his eyebrows and remarked, "That was rather ingenious of the ward maker. So what is so important that you needed to speak to us about?"

Remus looked at Severus then toward the kids and said, "Well finding out about the charm not breaking on Halloween of '81 got me thinking. What if neither died that night, I mean at the very least I doubt that Lily is dead due to the fact of the charm not breaking and Harry hearing her scream in his memories that come up when the Dementors are near him."

Severus took over at that point, "so we decided to go check out the house ourselves. Low and behold, when we repaired the two walls that were damaged there was no body beneath either of them. You can view our memories of it if you want."

After Madam Bones and Auror Scrimgeour viewed the memories, they looked at each other and Madam Bones declared, "You got the backing of the DMLE. When the full moon comes, I will have myself and three of my Aurors accompany you."

Remus nodded and said, "I also plan to have five animagus' come as well."

Madam Bones frowned and asked, "What animagus'? I can understand Mr. Black as he is a dog animagus but who else are animagus'?" she looked at them in curiosity.

The Trio swallowed but stood up and Harry stated, "The three of us are animagus' along with another Gryffindor of our year, Neville Longbottom. And even if you object Madam, I'm going with them, whether you like it or not."

At that statement both Madam Bones and Auror Scrimgeour's jaws drop, she then stated, "that is quite impressive Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley and Miss Granger, most adults cannot manage to complete the transformation much less children who had not entered fifth year."

Hermione smirked while mockingly commenting, "That's our Harry pulling off the impossible and making everyone else do the same."

Madam Bones looked almost amused as she asked, "The impossible Miss Granger, what do you mean by that?"

Ron looked at Hermione then to Madam Bones then said almost ironically, "well how many people do you know who at the age of eleven could do a thirty foot dive, catch a Rememball and come out without a scratch? Moreover, the broom is a Shooting Star in terrible condition. Wouldn't you say that would be a little impossible?"

At his questions, they looked at Harry and asked in chorus, "you did that?" At his confirming nod, both leaned back in shock. After she shook off her shock, Amelia asked, "What are your animagus forms?"

Ron raised his hand and said somewhat sheepishly, "I'm a Bengal Tiger, with an orange-red coat."

Hermione went next, "I'm an Amur Leopard, and my coat is like my hair, bushy." As she said that, she held her hands next to her head to emphasize the bushiness of her hair.

Harry went last with, "while I am a Giant King Cheetah. That means I have stripes along my spine, swirls on my rear hips and the spots on the rest of my body are larger than other cheetahs." As he said that he seemed almost smug, as if he thought of course with his speed at running it was only logical that his animagus forms be fast as well.

Severus interjected and said, "and I am a Cave Lion with a jet black mane."

Amelia and Rufus raised their eyebrows then Amelia stated calmly, "So the five animagus' that are going with you are unregistered. Are you planning on registering with the Ministry anytime soon?"

Harry glanced at Ron and Hermione then stated, "well if old Moldy Voldy is defeated before we turn seventeen, yes. However as long as Voldemort is around, the answer to your question is no."

Severus commented while crossing his arms over his chest, "I agree with them. As soon as Voldemort is defeated I'll register but until then I am staying unregistered, after all if I am discovered as a spy I can escape in my animagus form so long as it is unknown."

Amelia nods her agreement, "alright only the Aurors who accompany Remus and yourselves on the full moon will be aware of your animagus forms. I will have them take a secrecy oath before revealing not only the mission but who they will be accompanying. I'll register you but put a block on your file so that no one can look without my authorization. Especially since I will be placing the files in my desk under heavy warding." At that comment she smiled smugly.

Remus smiled and with a nod said, "thank you Madam Bones."

Madam Bones then turned to Sirius while commenting, "I would suggest that you stay in your animagus form until the paper has written about the evidence exonerating you of your crimes."

Sirius nodded his acknowledgement to the truth in her statement and said, "I'll stay with Severus as his pet dog. I have done it before after all, well at least before he had the memory charm put on, Lily often had me meet him to get the information. After all who would suspect a dog digging for a bone to be receiving information?" He smiled mischievously.

Remus snorted and said in an amused tone of voice, "no one. Except me, James, Severus, and Lily." At that the Golden Trio cleared their throats and glared at him, he gave them a nervous smile, "oh and the kids now." The three smiled at him and sat back in their chairs with a smug look on their faces.

Sirius smirked at his old friend and said smugly, "exactly Moony old pal."

As they all stood up and prepared to leave, Harry turned around and asked, "Which Aurors will be accompanying us on the full moon, Madam Bones?"

Madam Bones looked up then replied, "Head Auror Scrimgeour for sure, Auror Shacklebolt if he does not object, and possibly a new Auror we have named Tonks. Basically anyone who can fly and is prepared to follow a werewolf under the influence of the Wolvesbane Potion. May I ask as to why you were going along even if I had objected to you accompanying Remus Lupin in your animagus form?"

Harry smiled at her and replied softly, "Because I am the only one beside Voldemort who can speak Parseltongue. Old Voldy had his prisons Parseltongue password protected, if he needed a prisoner retrieved by a death eater he would send a snake with them. I'll be able to open the doors without breaking them down and thus not alerting Voldemort to the breakout."

Amelia smirked then while nodding said, "good day Mr. Potter. Thank you for alerting us to the situation in Little Winging, Surry. I will investigate as to why a pair of Dementors was in the area." As she said the last two sentences, the door had been open and it was obvious there were some eavesdroppers trying to hear why Harry Potter was seeing the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Madam Bones then made a comment of, "I do hope you will decide to work for me once you have graduated. I could use a few more Aurors like you. A fully corporal Patronus at your age… Thank you for bringing him in Kingsley and for reporting that you were in his company when he used the spell."

Kingsley nodded and said, "Of course Madam Bones. If it is alright I will escort Mr. Potter, Miss Granger and Mr. Weasley back to their relatives." Madam Bones waved her hand dismissively which Kingsley took as a cue to go away.

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As they walked back into the house they heard laughter coming from the living room, after he dropped them back off at the house, Kingsley went back to the Ministry. So the six looked into the living room to find Fred and George staring at the TV as if it held the answers to the universe. Harry raised an eyebrow and asked, "Fred, George just what is so interesting about the TV?"

The twins looked up with wonder in their eyes and Fred said, "These cartoons are fascinating. I wonder if George and I would be able to incorporate some of these ideas into joke products."

Harry blinked then shook his head fondly and asked, "Do you know if Headmaster Dumbledore is still here?"

Ginny who was sitting on the couch by Yumichika spoke up, "yes he is I think he is in the kitchen talking to some woman named Yoruichi. Wasn't that the same name as the talking cat last night?"

Harry said while laughing, "If the woman has purple hair and gold eyes she is the talking cat." With that comment, he left everyone in the living room except for Yumichika and Ikkaku in shock.

As Harry walked into the kitchen, he overheard the Headmaster saying, "Are you sure you won't take the job, Yoruichi? It would only be for a year, and then you could go back to Japan."

Yoruichi shook her head and said, "Maybe next year Albus, I simply cannot afford to leave when we are at war with Aizen." She then saw Harry over Albus' shoulder and said while smiling slyly, "however I see no reason why my former apprentice could not give out study sessions."

Albus blinked in shock and then asked puzzled, "your apprentice? I was not aware you had taken an apprentice."

Yoruichi waved her left hand dismissively and said, "I took them as my apprentice when they were around six years old. They are now almost fifteen and have learned almost everything I could possibly be able teach them, the only thing they have left to learn comes with time and practice."

Albus gave a relieved smile and said, "This is good news Yoruichi. Could you perhaps put me in contact with them?"

Yoruichi looked thoughtful and replied, "I suppose I could. Close your eyes, turn around and open them again, my apprentice is standing at the fridge."

As Headmaster Dumbledore did, what she said, Harry started to look amused at his actions, and the Headmaster blinked in shock and gasped, "Harry! You are Yoruichi's apprentice?"

At that Harry nodded while smiling, "yes Headmaster. She was my teacher since I was around five to six years old until the age of ten. Were you trying to convince her to take the DADA position?"

The Headmaster sighed but nodded, "yes, however I couldn't convince her to do it."

Harry laughed then said, "So I overheard. However like she said I would not be adverse to hand out lessons to those who would wish to learn from me."

The headmaster beamed at Harry then said, "Splendid, I am glad to hear that. What would you be willing to teach of what Yoruichi taught you?"

Harry hummed then after several minutes said, "I would be willing to teach Bakudo, the way of Binding. I could also teach the basics of Shunpo and if some of the Aurors do not mind being taught by a fifteen year old, I can teach them Hado, the way of Destruction. Other then that I probably will be teaching standard spells that can be used for defense, the one I know that I will attempt to teach them will be the Patronus charm."

As the two were discussing what Harry would be willing to teach fellow students, the two had made their way to the dining room. Where Kenpachi overheard them discussing which kido spells would be taught to whom, he snorted and Harry looked up at him saying, "yes Kenpachi I know about your belief that using spells are for the weak. However that is what these children go to Hogwarts to learn, although I also will be teaching select individuals how to use a weapon."

Hermione came into the room when she heard Kenpachi snort she raised her eyebrow at him and said, "You do realize, Captain Zaraki, that I could turn you into a cute fluffy bunny and hand you over to Ichigo's friend Rukia? It is not weak to use magic, and consider this if your men could use magic they can draw fights out even longer."

At that, Kenpachi stared at her in shock and grudging respect. "I never thought of it like that, alright teach them all the magic they could need. After all when they come to soul society I can always refuse to have them in my squad." He then points at Hermione and said, "except her. I want her in my squad, she is smart and cunning enough to be one of ours even if she uses magic rather than brute strength. Just like Yumichika," he added the last sentence almost without thought.

Yumichika gasps in mock horror, "but Captain if you allow her into the squad I will no longer be the most beautiful of squad eleven. Also does that mean I am allowed to use my Zanpakuto's true form if there is no other way to defeat my foe?"

Kenpachi glared at him and said, "of course just like I expect Ikkaku to pull out his trick that he has been hiding if a fight is going south. After all if you two die who is going to watch Yachiru and run the division, both of you know I hate paperwork," at his last sentence he glowered at them both.

Both Yumichika and Ikkaku look at one another then at their captain then they chorus, "of course Captain. You would rather be having fun then working."

Hermione snorts then says with a baleful glare, "now that we have that out of the way. What was this I heard about you teaching Harry?" When she asked her question, her baleful look turned inquisitive as she turned her attention from the three male eleventh squad members to Harry.

Harry laughed at the way the three eleventh division members cowered away from Hermione's glare. Not that Kenpachi even really cowered but he had flinched slightly and looked away. While still chuckling he told her, "The Headmaster just found out that an old friend of his had apprenticed me when I was younger. She had declined his offer to be DADA teacher this year and instead suggested to the Headmaster that her former apprentice give out private lessons to those who wish to learn the techniques."

Hermione's eyes gleamed in anticipation and she asked breathlessly, "so what are you going to be teaching?"

Harry smiled at her enthusiasm and said, "Well, I was thinking about teaching Bakudo, a little bit of Hado, that is providing they are willing to take an oath, and Shunpo. Well that is also with teaching normal wizarding spells that can be used for defense and attack."

Hermione cocked her head to the side and asked in a puzzled tone, "what are Bakudo, Hado and Shunpo?"

Harry looked at her then glanced around the room, it would seem that everyone who did not know about the shinigami were confused as well. Harry sighed then stood strait and started to lecture, "Bakudo is one of the three main arts of Kido. Kido is also called the demon arts; no one really knows why they are called that it is just traditional by now. Bakudo means the way of Binding, thus all Bakudo spells have either a binding effect or a defensive effect. Hado on the other hand is almost completely offensive, as such it is known as the way of Destruction. Shunpo means Flash Step and those who have mastered its use can cover over thirty miles in a single step. It is somewhat like apparating only there is no ward that can stop its use. Does that answer your question Hermione?"

Hermione had actually written down what Harry had just said and she looked up at him and said, "Yes that did thank you Harry."

Kingsley who had just rejoined them prior to Harry's mini lecture on Kido spoke up asking, "would it be possible for you to teach some of the Aurors these techniques?"

Harry nodded and said, "I was actually planning on teaching at least you, Tonks, and Moody how to use them."

Moody looked almost curious about these techniques and asked, "Is there anyway to get a demonstration at the Auror training grounds from you?"

Harry raised his eyebrow and said slowly, "sure, Professor. However I would need at least two other people skilled in Kido to help me demonstrate, that way the Aurors could see how several Kido spells can be used in conjunction with each other."

Ichigo cracked his neck and said, "Why don't you call and see if Rukia and Shuhei can come over to help with the demonstration. I know Rukia is skilled at using Kido and Shuhei is as well at least according to Renji anyway."

Harry looked at Ichigo and said, "Alright I will. However I will wait until later tonight after the three of us watch Tremors II." Harry then turned to the rest of the people and said, "If any of you want to watch it as well you are welcome to stay and watch."

Hermione smirked and said, "Well I'm staying to watch it, it always was one of my favorites."

Remus also raised his hand and murmured that he would be staying as well. In fact, the only one who was not staying to watch the movie was Moody. Harry then turned to Molly and asked her, "Would you like to help me make Dinner, Mrs. Weasley? We can eat then watch the movie."

Molly blinked in shock and said, "of course I would be glad to help you cook dear."

Harry smiled at her and said, "alright Mrs. Weasley but I have to warn you that this is a Muggle kitchen so we will have to cook everything the muggle way."

Molly bit her lower lip and said, "I've never cooked in a muggle kitchen before. Is it terribly difficult?"

Harry looked over his shoulder at her as he walked to the kitchen saying, "well I don't think it is terribly hard but then again I have never cooked in a wizarding kitchen so I wouldn't know the difference."

As Molly walked to the kitchen, she rolled up the sleeves of her shirt and said, "Well I will certainly give it my best shot dear." After Molly walked into the kitchen she took a good look around and she said, "this is a beautiful kitchen my dear. However what are those muggle things for?"

Harry looked at her and then as he walked around the kitchen he told her just what each appliance was called and what it was used to do. "This is the refrigerator, its job is to keep things cold, and the top door of the fridge is the Freezer which freezes things. Many people mostly use it to store Ice, Ice cream, and frozen food. This is the Microwave; it basically is like an oven only faster however, there are certain things that should never be placed in a microwave. In fact, some dishware should not be placed in a microwave; unless the dish has printed on it that, it is microwave and dishwasher safe. Speaking of the dishwasher, the dishwasher is right here by the sink, once you have the majority of the dish clean, you stick it in the dishwasher. Once the dishwasher is full, you put soap in the soap dispenser and after making sure the door is locked turn it on. Its job is to wash and dry the dishes put in it, simple right?"

Molly looked a bit dazed and said, "Muggles have something that washes the dishes for them? They certainly do more then most give them credit for."

At Molly's last statement they heard a murmur of agreement from the door and both looked up to see the shinigami, Kingsley, Minerva, Albus and Moody all standing at the door. Harry raised his right eyebrow and said sarcastically, "what do you think this is a show? Out of my kitchen or you won't get anything to eat." As he said the last part, he pointed behind them with a foreboding look on his face. It was plain to see he meant what he said, so they all left the door in a hurry; of course, none of the wizards was as fast as the shinigami.

After Harry chased them out of the kitchen he turned to Molly and said, "how about we make roast duck with stuffing, roasted carrots, artichokes with mustard aioli, and roasted asparagus with Romano cheese."

Molly smiled then commented, "That sounds delicious. However do we have all of the ingredients on hand?"

Harry smirked and said with a sly look on his face, "Mrs. Weasley you are about to learn what it is like to have several men willing to do whatever you want to get a taste of my cooking." Harry then walked over to the door and yelled, "Severus, Remus, Ichigo come to the kitchen you have hereby been drafted."

As Ichigo walked, into the kitchen he held out his hand and said, "Alright hand over the list." Remus and Severus entered the room right after Ichigo; however, it was clear from their faces that they were confused.

Remus looked between Harry and Ichigo then asked while raising his eyebrows, "What list?"

Ichigo looked at him and said, "The grocery list. What else could we have been drafted for."

Harry nodded and said while smirking, "yeah that's what you have been drafted for, you are going shopping. Here is the list of ingredients we do not have for dinner:

**Grocery List**

20 Artichokes

15 Lemons

10 bunches of Asparagus

5 boxes of butter

20 duck breasts

1 jar of honey (any kind will do)

1 jar of orange Marmalade

3 pounds of Romano Cheese

2 pounds of brown sugar

1 jar of coarse ground mustard

1 jar of mayonnaise

Think you guys can handle getting all that?"

Ichigo said while smirking, "sure, we can handle that. What will you two be making while we are getting these things?"

Harry replied while smirking back, "what else? Dessert."

Ichigo snorted and said, "in that case you better keep Kon and Yachiru out of the kitchen they have sweet teeth that can put Kisuke into a mansion." All Harry did in reply was to nod and shoo them out of the kitchen.

He then turned to Molly and showed her where the ingredients for desserts are kept.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

After Dinner, Moody left to go do who knows what, everyone wandered into the living room whereupon Harry put a movie into the VCR and then flopped onto the couch in-between Sirius and Remus. Harry said while smirking, "Feel free to scream and hide your faces if you get scared."

At that the Eleventh division members snorted, while Yachiru cocked her head to the side and watched the opening credits. After watching the man be swallowed by a large underground monster, Yumichika quipped, "we had better not let Captain Kurotsuchi see this movie or else he will try to make these monsters a reality." After that comment, the rest of the movie passed rather quickly, among the wizards and witches there was quite a few gasps and screams.

Although at the point, where Kate laughed about the amount of explosives Burt had requested and Earl had made a comment about overkill. Harry quipped, "There is no such thing as overkill, there is only I am out of ammo and I need to reload."

At his comment Hermione laughed but agreed with, "true and it's not paranoia if they really are out to get you."

After the final credits, everyone stretched and stood up to leave, Harry asked, "so who is staying tonight?"

Ichigo looked up and said, "Well I think I am going to head home and when I see Rukia I'll tell her about you needing her help to demonstrate Kido. I'll also see if I can find Shuhei and ask if he would be willing to lend you a hand."

Harry smiles at his cousin softly and said, "Thanks Ichigo. Give Yazu and Karin a hug for me when they get home from camp."

Ichigo snorts but gamely says, "Will do," then while giving Harry a hug whispered in her ear, "take care of yourself, Shina-Chan."

Harry rolled her eyes and said, "Get out of here you," while shoving Ichigo towards the basement. Harry then turns to the others and raises an eyebrow in question.

Everyone shook their heads and started to file out the back door, however Sirius, Remus and Severus all indicated they would be staying. Harry then turned her attention to Kenpachi and his men, Kenpachi stated, "Me and Yachiru are staying for the night since I want to spar with you in the morning." After giving that statement he turned toward his fifth and third seats and said, "You two do whatever you want, I am going to bed." With that said he walked toward the study and placed Yachiru down on the bed that Ichigo never bothered to put away. He then walked up the stairs to the bathroom that was separate from the bedrooms. When he walked back down from his shower he saw Yumichika and Ikkaku both conked out on the sofas in the living room, after making sure they were fast asleep he went into the study and fell asleep himself.


	9. Chapter 8: Rescue By Moonlight

Chapter Eight: Rescue by Moonlight

The two weeks until the full moon flew by quickly and before the Golden Trio knew it, the full moon was upon them. Remus had found the approximate location of the prison house holding James and possibly Lily as well. It was located in Scotland, in the area of Sutherlands between the Thurso River and Loch Shin, Madam Bones and Head Auror Scrimgeour had been notified of where to have the portkey drop the Aurors off. Therefore, after the Head of the DMLE and Head of the Aurors had briefed the small group they quickly used the portkey to reach the meeting point. The group consisted of five people, Auror Nymphadora Tonks, Auror Kingsley Shacklebolt, Head Auror Scrimgeour, Madam Bones and Former Auror Alastor 'Mad-Eye' Moody.

By the time, the small group reached the meeting point Remus Lupin had already transformed and was waiting for them impatiently. Headmaster Albus Dumbledore was waiting as well, after greeting one another Madam Bones cleared her throat and said, "Auror Tonks and Moody please be advised that five animagus' will be running alongside Mr. Lupin. All five have been registered, however all registration information has been restricted for their safety, as one is a spy and three of them are not yet out of school. The last has had the information restricted until his innocence has been declared and he is no longer in danger of losing his soul to the Dementors. This is why you all had to take a secrecy oath concerning the people on this venture."

After all the Auror's had nodded their assent, Madam Bones turned to Remus and said, "very well Mr. Lupin you may begin whenever you are ready." She then turned back to her officers and told them, "mount your brooms." After they did so, Moony raced off like a shot and the five animagus' followed him closely, after over thirty minutes of racing Moony started to slow down slightly. Tonks commented that they might be close to their target since he slowed down a bit, it would seem she was right as soon Moony halted in his tracks and gave a howl, while pawing at the ground slightly.

After he howled the other three people who accompanied the Aurors on the flight flew over to the animagus' and one of them asked, "Well has he found the location?"

The cheetah transformed and said, "I don't know Bill. That's why we brought you along, to help with the wards."

The lone woman of the flying trio raised her eyebrow and said softly, "Harry has a point Mr. Weasley."

Bill rolled his eyes but gamely dismounted the broom and strode up to Moony; he then drew his wand and started to cast detection spells. After several minutes he finished and turned back to everyone, he then said, "well, sure enough it is under unplottable charms, however since we know its location they will no longer affect us. On a side note the place does have anti-animagus wards, so the animagus' will have to transform back until they exit the wards."

At that, Harry snorted and said, "I was going to have to transform back anyway, since I am the only one who can speak Parseltongue."

After all the animagus' transformed back into their human forms, Harry turned toward Remus saying, "Come on Moony lets go get them out."

Moony gave an agreeing growl, and padded toward the desolate gray building in the distance. Once they reached the doors, they could see the doorknocker was an ornate serpent that moved and hissed as they drew near. Harry strode up to the door and said, "Open now," after he hissed his command the door opened and let them in. He allowed Moony to enter first saying, "alright Moony lead the way."

The Aurors followed him closely and as they made their way down the hall, they could hear people speaking to each other, as they drew closer they heard a man who said, "I wonder how Moony and Padfoot are doing with out me."

They then heard a woman reply, "I don't know James, I just hope that they are alright."

At the mans voice Moony's head shot up and he had an intent look on his face, while Sirius looked as if one of his greatest dreams had just come true. Moony raced down the hallway, with a short howl leapt up, and placed a paw on either side of the window in the door of the cell. Despite being a few feet behind Moony everyone heard the gasp and the man crying out, "Moony is that you." To which Moony gave a soft whine and nodded his head. They then saw a hand reached through the bars and scratched behind his ears, all Moony did in response was lick the hand while whining.

Harry, Severus and Sirius smiled at the sight before Harry strode toward Moony and said, "Move Moony, I need to get to the door if you want to get them out of there." As Harry said that he was shoving Moony's shoulder, then he said, "Mr. Potter if you would please back away from the door. I don't know how the door will react to the password so for your safety please back away." Harry then glanced through the bars on the doors to make sure that his Dad and Aunt had indeed backed away from the door. Once he was sure they had, he spoke clearly, "unlock and open now," the door did as he commanded and after unlocking silently opened.

Once the door had cleared enough space Moony went inside and pounced on a black haired man who laughed and said, "Enough Moony, I don't know how you are sane and not tearing everyone to shreds but I need to get up."

Sirius walked up and said, "Moony leave poor Prongs alone." He then turned to the red haired witch and said, "Hello Lily, it's been a while. Sorry it took us so long to track you down." He gave her a impish grin.

Lily laughed then after walking over gave him a hug and while hugging him said, "That's alright, at least you found us. And just to make sure you are you and not an impostor. What did you, Severus, Lily and James do on the night of June 17, 1981?"

Sirius smiled down at her and replied, "Severus and I wed via a druidic ceremony, you stood for me and James stood for Severus. And I have to say I am very annoyed that you kept the fact that Kushina was Remus' daughter from me." At his last sentence he huffed in mock anger.

Lily laughed and said while pointing at James, "blame him, he didn't want to tell anyone else until he told Remus." Until that comment, their entire conversation was held in whispers so as not to be overheard.

Sirius shook his fist at James and said, "You are going to pay Prongs old boy for keeping this sort of secret from your best friend." All James did to respond to Sirius' threat was to laugh.

After allowing the reunion Madam Bones cleared her throat and said, "Mr. Potter and Mrs. Potter are there anymore prisoners beside you here?"

At her question, Lily looked up and said after nodding sharply, "yes there are two other prisoners down the hall, although they are asleep as far as I know." She gestured to the left of the doorway.

With that confirmation, Minerva gestured for Kingsley to take Harry to get the other two prisoners loose. They quickly arrived back where upon, Minerva and Albus gaped in shock and chorused, "Fabian! Gideon! You are alive!"

To which the two red heads blinked and stated indigently, "of course we are alive! As if a few death eaters could take us on and win." The pair glared at the gaping headmaster and deputy headmistress.

Neither of the red haired men noticed Ron gaping in shock at them. Hermione hissed at him, "Ron, why are you gaping at them?"

Ron hissed back, "Because they are my Mum's supposedly dead brothers that's why. Mum named Fred and George after them when they were born on the same day as her brothers." Hermione's eyes widened in comprehension then she poked his shoulder and gestured for him to look at Harry. When he did he saw Harry, looking at his uncles with a bemused expression then Harry looked up at them and mouthed, 'Fred and George act a lot like them don't they?' Ron and Hermione nodded in response.

Harry then said jauntily, "gentlemen, ladies. I do believe it is time we take our leave of this depressing place and journey home or at the very least to Saint Mungo's."

At that comment Hermione's lips twitched and she commented to Ron, "I think we better leave since Harry is misquoting movie lines at us." At her comment, Harry stuck his tongue out at her playfully.

Albus smiles at Harry fondly and said, "Right you are my boy. Let's get out of here."

Harry led the way with Aurors Shacklebolt and Scrimgeour bringing up the rear, after Harry spoke the passwords to the front door they all went outside and after passing the ward boundaries either apparated or port-keyed away. Sirius transformed back into Padfoot and port-keyed with Severus, while Ron side along apparated with Bill and Hermione side along apparated with Minerva. Harry on the other hand portkeyed back with Moony, Fabian, Gideon, Lily and James. Since Kushina was still under her glamour, Lily and James did not recognize her at first.

The six were directly transported to Saint Mungo's were a team of healers was waiting to see if the former prisoners required medical aid. The team had been warned ahead of time that a werewolf would be port keying in with the patients so they were not startled at Moony's presence. Although they were startled to be working on supposedly dead patients, as was customary, they were quarantined for an hour in order to insure that they were not under the effects of the Polyjuice potion. Once it was proven they were whom they looked like, their closest relative was notified of their presence in Saint Mungo's. Which for the twins was their little sister Molly Weasley, who gathered the only children who were home with her, Fred, George and Ginny. She then went to the hospital where not only were her brothers there but also her youngest and eldest sons, who had in fact helped rescue their uncles.

Fred and George both went up to their little brother and said, "Ron, what exactly is going on? Why was Mum informed about someone being in the hospital?"

Ron looked at them and said, "You two remember how Harry's mum and dad might have still been alive right? Well it turns out they were not the only ones being held prisoner. So were Uncle Fabian and Uncle Gideon."

Fred, George and Ginny gaped at him in shock, and then Ginny gasped out, "Mum's older brothers are alive?" At her question all Ron and Bill did was nod their heads, Ginny then asks, "Harry's parents were rescued right?"

Bill looks at her and said, "Yeah Ginny they were. Remus, Sirius, Severus and Harry are with them right now. The healers are just checking them over to make sure they are healthy enough to leave. Although they had to submit to Veritaserum in order to make sure that, they are who they are. They passed of course; right now I think they are waiting until moonset in order for Remus to be able to leave with us."

After Bill's last comment, they overheard as someone who sounded a lot like Harry shouted, "What do you mean by that? If a potion has been invented that prevents a werewolf from loosing his mind to the moon, then why do you say he has to stay here until moonset?"

They all heard a woman say, "Mr. Potter please calm down, it is policy for the hospital not to let a werewolf into the population during the full moon as citizens would panic."

They all heard someone pacing and then they heard the same man say, "what if he looked like a common pet, I mean the only thing that differentiates him from a dog is the differences of breed and size. What if he wore a collar and pretended to be a pet wolf would you let him out then?"

The same healer answered, "I suppose that would be okay so long as you sign a waiver stating that you take responsibility for him during this full moon."

The man snorts and says, "I've been responsible for him during every full moon for a long time until about fourteen years ago. Not much of a difference, so if you think that would make me agree to leave him behind you are crazy. All I need is something to transfigure into a collar, hey Remus what type of a collar do you want?"

At that, all five Weasley kids looked at each other amused and then Ron commented wryly, "well at least we know where Harry gets his randomness from now." Hermione giggled but nodded in agreement.

After he commented that, his mother walked out from a set of doors with a pair of red haired men following her, to no ones surprise Molly wrapped her youngest and oldest son in a tight hug. She then said, "We will be leaving soon to Jackal's Lair; Harry's friend has agreed to let us use it for tonight to have the meeting."

After she told her children that information, the other set of doors opened to let out a man who closely resembled Harry, or rather whom Harry closely resembled. Beside him on his left was a large wolf that Bill, Hermione and Ron recognized as Remus and to his right was a red haired woman who had bright emerald eyes. Behind her was Harry, Padfoot and Severus, much to everyone's puzzlement Harry was playing with something in his hands, only Hermione recognized it as a Game boy. To her Harry was clearly playing a game, which one it was she did not have a clue, but what shocked everyone was the collar around Remus' throat and the leash that was connected to it was held casually in Mr. Potter's hand.

After they shook themselves out of their shock, they quickly made their way over to the fireplace to go to Jackals Lair. Everyone went through the Floo system to the house and ended up in the study, after arriving they made their way to the living room so the new arrivals would not bump into the ones who arrived first. The first one through the floo was Hermione quickly followed by Ron then Bill and Molly. After Molly came her twin sons, after them came Harry followed by Remus and James. After them came Severus and Sirius with Lily following shortly after. The last ones that came though the Floo was Fabian and Gideon, Harry who stayed in the study motioned for them to follow her or rather him from their perspective.

Harry led the twins out into the living room where they met with a blond haired, gray-eyed man who smiled down at Harry and said, "Well hello there my little muse."

Harry smiled brightly up at him and said while hugging him around the waist, "hello Kisuke. What brings you here tonight?"

Kisuke tapped him on the nose and said, "that is for me to know and you to find out, little one." After saying that he led them to the dining room, where once again the dining room table had been enlarged to fit twenty people, there were only three seats open however. Kisuke gestured for the twins to take the two open seats and snagged the last for himself while Harry sat on the arm of the chair while draping his legs across the other arm. Harry draped one arm across the back of the chair and wrapped the other across Kisuke's chest, as he did so he looked across the table at George and winked, after doing so he rested his head on Kisuke's shoulder.

The seating arrangements were similar to the last meeting, save a few key differences, along one of the short sides of the table, Severus and Sirius had once again taken seats next to each other except this time Sirius was seated at the corner and Severus beside him. Beside Severus was Lily, and beside her was James with Remus sitting next to him on the floor. To James and Remus' left was sitting Kisuke and Harry, to their left was Molly and beside Molly was Arthur. Next to Arthur was Kingsley followed by Tonks, next to Tonks was Madam Bones, who was seated next to Auror Scrimgeour, who in turn sat next to Minerva. Beside Minerva was Albus, who was seated next to Hermione and by her was Ron followed by Ginny who was curled up in Bill's lap. By Bill and Ginny was Fred, who had Gideon seated to his immediate left while beside Gideon sat Fabian, and last was George who was seated next to Sirius.

Sirius raised his eyebrow at Harry and asked in a saccharinely tone, "Harry, why are you sitting in his lap?"

Harry sassed back, "Because he is the man of my dreams, duh."

Everyone that was there at the previous meeting got a comprehending looks on their faces, everyone else just looked confused. Madam Bones raised the eyebrow above her monocle and asked, "Should I even wonder what you are all talking about?" It was clear from the look on his face that Scrimgeour agreed with her.

Sirius snickered and gleefully said, "Well, unknown to most of the wizarding world, the Black family was cursed in 1846, when a woman committed line theft of the family of Noir. The Noir family cursed her descendants to start to dream of their soul mates beginning at the age of four to five years old and ending only either once they met their soul mate or at the age of twenty." He then scowls while saying, "of course most of the Black family now days take a potion to stop all dreams until the age of twenty. Harry is the grandchild of a Black; Dorea Black married Charlus Potter in 1940 and had James Potter on March 27, 1960, who in turn had Harry on July 31, 1980. So by Harry saying that he is the man of his dreams is merely stating that he is Harry's soul mate."

James sighed then turned to Kisuke and said, "Well I guess that makes you my future son-in-law, doesn't it?"

Kisuke smiled at him and cheekily said, "Yes it does. As my little muse here has often told me that we are marrying on July 31, 1997 and the little one here is not going to take any excuses as to why we can't marry then."

James looked amused, looked his child in the eye, and said, "Determined aren't you?"

Harry smirked and said, "What can I say? I get it from both of my parents, who can blame me for that?"

Lily snorted and said sardonically, "no one I suppose except your parents. Of course your god parents are just as determined, so you could also get it from them."

Albus cleared his throat and said, "I think it is time we discussed what we came here to talk about." Minerva nodded sharply clearly agreeing with him.

Sirius snorted and after glancing at his husband asked, "And just what was that, Headmaster?"

Albus sighed and while looking James and Lily in the eyes asked, "Would either of you be willing to take the DADA position for the upcoming year at Hogwarts?"

James and Lily looked at each other skeptically and then Lily said, "Albus, neither I nor James were that good at DADA. I mean both of us passed with Exceeds Expectations but we are not as good as Remus is. Why don't you have him teach?"

At her question, all of the kids perked up and chorused, "Please Headmaster he was the best teacher we ever had!"

Albus sighed and said while looking haggard, "I'd love to be able to have him as DADA teacher again… However it was revealed toward the end of Harry's third year that he was a werewolf. The parents of the students might object to me bringing him back to teach."

At his last statement Harry snorted and said, "I highly doubt the students themselves would object and it is their opinions that matter not the parents and if the students feel safe then they have no cause to object. The four founders stipulated it in their charter that a non-human may be employed so long as a majority of the students do not feel threatened by their presence and proper precautions have been followed. Moreover, with three large animagus' on the payroll the parents would have no reason to believe that their child to be in any danger as I would suggest hiring Lily as an assistant Potions Professor or as an assistant for Charms. I would have Dad be either an assistant Transfiguration Professor or an assistant Defense Professor as one of them would have to sub for Remus on the full moon."

Albus raised his eyebrows and asked, "And how do you know about that particular rule of the Hogwarts Charter?"

Harry looked at him and said, "Simple Headmaster, after Remus quit at the end of my third year I looked it up at the beginning of my fourth year. Rule #8 of the charter states that a non-human may be employed by Hogwarts so long as the majority of the students do not feel threatened by the non-human. The rule also states that even werewolves are allowed to be teachers so long as proper precautions are employed, such as allowing the werewolves pack to be nearby or allowing the werewolf's mate and/or cub to be roomed with the werewolf. Apparently, werewolves will remain calm so long as their mates and cubs are calm and near them during the full moon. I bet the only reason those werewolves even joined Voldemort had to do with them no longer being allowed mates and children."

Madam Bones frowned thoughtfully then said, "I'll have to check on that, Mr. Potter. Thank you for giving us this information."

Albus raised his eyebrows at the information that Harry provided, "that is rather interesting information, my boy. However how will we know if the students feel safe around Mr. Lupin?"

Harry snorted then stated sarcastically while staring at him in disbelief, "isn't it obvious, Headmaster? Send out a survey to the students and ask them if they would object to having Remus Lupin return as the Defense against the Dark Arts Professor. I bet you that you will get back a lot of replies stating that not only would they not mind they would be delighted to be taught by him again."

Albus laughed and said, "very well Mr. Potter I will take that bet. What would you like if you win our little bet?"

Harry hummed while leaning against Kisuke, "permission to bring in anyone I want as guests for my study group. What would you like of me if you win Headmaster?"

Albus leaned forward and said with his eyes twinkling, "I want you to teach Kido and Shunpo at Hogwarts for two years after you graduate Hogwarts. Is that agreeable with you?"

Harry smirked at him and said, "those terms are quite agreeable, Headmaster."

James cleared his throat and said pointedly, "if you are done negotiation betting terms with my child, Albus…I would be glad to be an assistant DADA professor, or if Minerva needs help I would be glad to help her while subbing for Remus on the days before, of and after the full moon."

Lily nodded and said, "I also would be glad to be either Assistant Potions or Charms professor. Whichever one that would need my assistance more."

Severus raised his hands in thanks, "Lily would you mind teaching the first through fifth years if you were my assistant?"

Lily laughed and asked, "Are you still having trouble dumbing things down for the mere mortals who do not have a talent in potions?"

Severus huffed and said while glaring at her playfully, "just for that little comment you can take the first four classes with the sixth years." Lily merely laughed as a response along with shaking her head at him.

James shook his head at Lily and Severus' antics he then leaned over and whispered a question in his child's ear, "would you mind if I announce your real gender and parentage, Kushina?"

Harry raised both eyebrows and said slowly, "no Dad I don't mind matter of fact it would be a relief not to hide it anymore."

Fred and George chorus, "hide what Harry?"

Harry's eyes twinkled at them and in a singsong tone said, "you'll see in a minute boys."

At that, James Potter stood up and said, "I am afraid I kept a rather large secret from the wizarding world when my child was born. Albus do you remember when you told me and Lily about the prophecy that might concern my child?"

Albus nodded, "yes if I remember correctly it was only about five weeks before Harry was born. Why James, what could you have hid that would have to do with the timing of me telling you?"

James sighed and asked, "Hypothetically… What do you think Voldemort would have done if one of the two children who might be able to defeat him was a girl?" At that question most of the room blanched in horror.

Minerva paled then said in a shaky voice, "He would have killed the boy and taken the girl to be raised as his broodmare."

James nodded then said, "Exactly Minnie. Shortly before the Headmaster told us of the prophecy, we learned my child's gender. The moment he told me about the prophecy I knew if I allowed the truth of my child's gender to be in the open, my child would be in danger of a fate far worse than death."

Several of the members' faces gained looks of comprehension, including the Weasley twins, Hermione, Ron, Ginny and Bill. Although Scrimgeour, Tonks, Fabian and Gideon still looked slightly confused. James rolled his eyes and said, "I guess I'll have to spell it out for some of you, a son was not born to the Potter family on July 31, 1980. For the first time since Corinne Potter died in 1577, a female Potter lived."

The four who had not gotten it at his hints looked shocked then turned to Harry who was completely ignoring everyone and stared in shock. Tonks managed to shake off her shock then she turned to her cousin and asked him, "So if Harry is a girl what is her real name? And don't tell me that you actually named her Harry!"

James laughed and said, "Well you would be right, I didn't name her Harry. That name was Lily's doing as she was in charge of placing charms on her birth certificate and a glamour on her. I named my daughter Kushina Ruri Potter…" James then paused and finally said, "-Lupin. Mere minutes after I gave birth to her, Lily stepped forward and swore the In Parentes Locus Oath. Twenty five days after she swore the Oath both Severus and Sirius swore the same Oath."

Minerva and Albus stared at him in shock along with most of the table; in fact, the only ones not surprised were Ron, Hermione, Severus, Sirius, Lily, Kisuke and Kushina. Actually, Kushina finally stopped ignoring everyone and looked at her Dad asking, "Hey Dad, does that mean I can take off this pesky glamour for the rest of the summer?"

James laughed while replying, "sure thing, Kushina. Go right ahead if you want."

Everyone's attention turned toward Kushina who ran her fingers across her left wrist after she did so everyone could see an onyx bracelet wrapped around her wrist. Then with a gentle flash of light a far different person sat on the arm of Kisuke's chair, she had blood red hair with tawny gold streaks through it. Her eyes were no longer bright emerald green; instead, they were gold with the faintest hint of green in them. Her facial features no longer held any hints of Lily in them; instead, they could see Remus in some of her features. She had his smirk, the way his eyes once held the mischievous glint to them; it was plain to see that she inherited her great-grandmother's Alexandra Noir's hair color. However she did not gain her eyes, but instead inherited her fathers, in fact several people recognized the DADA Professor that left in June of 1976. Kushina raised her left eyebrow at all the stares and asks sarcastically, "do I have something on my face or what?"

Minerva starts and said, "no, Mr…Miss Potter you don't…we were just startled at how much you resemble your great-grandmother Alexandra Potter. And I am going to have to get used to referring to you as Miss instead of Mr. in private."

Minerva then glared at Sirius and said, "That's why you looked so blasé about the inheritance of the Noir family. You knew that Harry was a girl the whole time so you had no reason to worry about it."

Sirius smirked at her and said, "Yeah I knew. And Minerva, you are going to have to get used to calling Kushina by her real name as James never planned on hiding her gender after she turned eleven. I dare say that Voldemort knows by now that he would never be able to have her side with him so she should be safe with that."

James and Kushina nodded decisively at that comment, then Kushina remarks, "I have no reason to hide any longer and Dad can answer as to why he hid the information in the first place. Besides this way I can now declare my engagement to Kisuke and be able to visit him occasionally or have him visit me."

Albus and Minerva look at her in askance about her comment, at their look she explains, "Rule #5 of the Hogwarts charter, if a current student of Hogwarts is engaged or married then they may take a weekend to visit their betrothed or spouse. Rule #6: If a pair of soul mates engage in intercourse on the grounds of Hogwarts then wizarding law has to acknowledge them as a married couple or face the consequences. In other words, the ministry has to acknowledge Dad and Papa as a married couple or face the consequences of the Hogwarts charter."

At her comment, James looked slightly puzzled and asked her, "What do you mean by that Kushina?"

Kushina rolled her eyes and said, "Well Uncle 'Rus told me which potion and charm combination you used as such I figured out as to when I was conceived."

Hermione looked at her puzzled and said, "What do you mean Kushina?"

She looked at Hermione and said, "I figured out that I was conceived on Oct. 31, 1977. Then using a combination of a potion and charm, Dad halted the pregnancy and protected me for two years after which the pregnancy resumed as if never interrupted, with me being born on July 31, 1980. As such under the Hogwarts charter, since Dad and Papa are soul mates and they conceived me on the Hogwarts grounds they have to be considered married since Oct. 31, 1977. In other words, despite the fact that Remus didn't know I was his, I was not born out of wedlock."

At that Hermione looked as if she wanted to study the charter herself commented, "Well that was convenient. I wonder why they did it like that."

Kushina smirked at her and said, "The reason why the founders wrote it like that was quite simple. Two of the founders were soul mates and normally the ministry would ignore the validation of their marriage so they worded it so the ministry would be forced to acknowledge any marriage like theirs." She paused before smirking wickedly, "unless of course they wanted to lose all rights for their line to be taught at Hogwarts."

Severus snorted before commenting, "I'll take a wild guess and say that Slytherin came up with that little rule."

Kushina laughed and said, "Well you would be wrong, as Godric Gryffindor was the one to come up with that little gem." At that, the entire group stared at her in shock after which she asked, "So, who all will be staying here tonight?"

Sirius quickly commented, "Severus and I are heading to Hogwarts for tonight, less neighbors to be frightened because of our noise." At Minerva's puzzled expression Sirius elaborated, "Severus and I have been married since June of 1981 and we have not had the chance to be together since he regained his memories as we were worried about Lily and James." At that Minerva and Albus both blushed Gryffindor red.

Molly commented after that, "I would prefer to go back to Grimmauld Place. There is more room there and the kids already have their things there. Fabian, Gideon, where would you like to stay?"

The Prewett twins glanced at each other then chorused, "we'll stay with you little sister."

The rest of them except for Lily, James, Remus, Kushina and Kisuke all indicated that they would go elsewhere for the night. So after the five bid everyone goodnight and they all left, Kushina turned toward her parents and said, "Papa, you and Dad can have the room you stayed in last night. Aunt Lily you can stay in the room closest to the stairs and I'll share my usual room with Kisuke." Moony nodded before giving a gruff growl indicating that he acknowledged the statement.

At that comment James raised his eyebrows and said, "Kushina, what do you mean by that?"

Kushina rolled her eyes and said, "Calm down Dad. Part of the betrothal contract that Aunt Masaki came up with states that I have to remain untouched until my sixteenth birthday. So there will be no hanky panky of either of us, I just find it comforting to have him next to me while I am sleeping. For some reason I sleep better with him nearby."

At her last comment, Kisuke nods and says, "Indeed, I am the same. Actually I have trouble falling asleep while sleeping alone at first after sleeping next to her for more than a week."

At that, comment James nodded and said, "Yeah I had a hard time sleeping by myself after Alice started to remember the password to her common room at first. Then I slowly got used to sleeping alone again. I guess it's alright if you sleep in the same bed…"

Kushina smiled at him and said sweetly, "good because I was not about to bow down and bunk down with Aunt Lily. And I certainly was not going to sleep in the same bedroom as you two. Especially since, you are probably going to need to talk once you get up tomorrow morning. Besides as Papa no doubt would remember, the couch in the master bedroom folds out into a bed, I just need to be held tonight and I am used to either Kisuke or Ichigo being the one to hold me." With that final comment, she grabbed Kisuke's hand and dragged him upstairs into the master bedroom. Whereupon she closed the door, then turned toward him and said while resting her forehead against his chest, "I am going to take a shower then I am going to bed. You can either take a shower after I am done or take one in the morning. I don't care."

Kisuke smiled down at her and said while caressing her left cheek with the back of his right hand, "I'll take one when I get up tomorrow." After watching her walk into the bathroom carrying a change of clothes. He shook his head while saying, "I don't know what I did to deserve you, but I wish I knew so I can keep doing it."

Meanwhile downstairs Lily laughed at the look on James' face and said, "That's what you get when two stubborn people produce a child. You end up with someone even more stubborn then their parents." After making those comments, Lily walked up the stairs and entered the first bedroom on the left, whereupon she went into the bathroom and took a shower. After finishing her shower and changing clothes, she crawled into the bed and fell into a deep sleep.

After Lily went upstairs, Remus tugged on James' shirtsleeve and started to walk up the stairs, after shaking his head in amusement James followed him up and into the second bedroom on the left. James looked down at Remus and commented, "I'll take a shower in the morning, and I'm too tired to take one now." After he said that he shucked all of his clothes off and crawled into the bed, after he placed his glasses on the bedside table he patted the bed in invitation to Remus. He quickly fell asleep after feeling Remus jump up on the bed and nuzzle his way under the covers.


	10. Chapter 9: Of Money and Shopping

Chapter Nine: Of Money and Shopping

James patted the bed where Moony had fallen asleep the night before, but it was empty, he then frowned, grabbed his glasses from the table then opened his eyes to see where Remus had wandered off to just as Remus walked out of the bathroom wearing nothing but a towel. As he watched James catalogued how much Remus had changed over the years since James had seen him last. He had a few more scars and was thinner then James liked but that thinness could be easily rectified, and as Remus' mate, he had every right to spoil his wolf. Remus had not noticed that he was up yet and walked over to the closet where Kushina had told him she put some of Kisuke's clothes that he did not like. After opening the closet he pulled out a pair of black slacks and a dark gold dress shirt that brought out the more golden tones of his eyes, he also grabbed a pair of boxers that said 'Keep Staring…' on the front and 'I might do a trick' on the back. James' lips twitched and he could not hold back his laughter anymore.

Remus whirled around and saw his mate rolling on the bed laughing hysterically. He rolled his eyes but smiled at the sight while saying, "And just what do you find so funny, Prongs?"

James managed to gasp out while still laughing, "The thought of you looking so prim and proper while underneath your pants is a pair of boxers that dare for people to keep staring at you." He then continued to howl with laughter.

Remus smirked while remarking, "Just for that I get to pick out your clothes, James. Now get up and go take a shower." James rolled out of bed and stumbled to the bathroom while still snickering in amusement. Two minutes later Remus heard the water come on and turned toward the closet to pick out James clothes for the day. A minute later a wicked smirk came on his face as he found the perfect outfit; he opened the bathroom door and called in, "your clothes are on the bed, after you get dressed come down stairs."

Remus stuck around long enough to hear James' agreement; he then walked out the door shutting it behind him and walked downstairs.

An hour and a half before James awakened, Kushina stirred from slumber to find Kisuke's arms wrapped around her waist. When she tried to get up, he murmured something inaudible and tightened his hold. Kushina smiled down at him fondly, then ran her fingers through his hair it was a rare sight that most did not get to see as he rarely relaxed enough to fall into such a deep sleep.

After watching him sleep for an hour she sighed knowing she had to get up to start breakfast and as much as she did not want him to, that meant getting Kisuke to let go of her. Besides, he needed a shower anyway and it would take him at least half an hour to finish that. She shook his shoulder and murmured into his ear, "Kisuke…Love, it's time to wake up."

Kisuke whines while tightening his grip further, "just five more minutes Shina-Chan…" She looked down at him fondly, it was times like this that he reminded her of himself back when he was Minato Namikaze not Kisuke Urahara. Minato never liked letting go of her in the mornings either, she was always gladdened to see that he hadn't lost that even with not remembering that life.

She then laughed softly before gently scolding him, "I've already let you sleep for an hour Kisuke."

Kisuke squinted up at her sleepily and asked in a disbelieving tone, "Really, you let me sleep that much longer? Usually you are up and about as soon as you wake up, why did you just lay in bed that long?"

Kushina rolled her eyes then said exasperatedly while looked at him fondly, "because I love you, you silly man. Well that and you wouldn't let go of my waist, now get up and take a shower while I start breakfast." As she said that last sentence she lightly slapped his right hip and rolled out of bed, she then commented while opening the closet, "do me a favor and wear jeans today Kisuke. I plan on going to Diagon Ally today and I want to take you with me, you wearing jeans will make everyone think you are either a Muggle or Muggleborn."

Kisuke pouted at losing her warmth and having to get up, but he gamely slid out of bed heading toward the bathroom. He paused at her request for him to wear jeans and commented while smirking, "that and you like what jeans do for my legs and ass."

She smirked back and saucily replied, "of course I love what they do, everyone wants what I have when you wear jeans."

He laughed and said, "Alright I'll wear jeans if you promise to wear the outfit Yoruichi bought you three days ago. If you wear that outfit I'll even shave for you." As he spoke walked backwards into the bathroom, his eyes glinting with mischief.

She smiled wickedly and said while she glared at him playfully, "you got a deal now go and get in the shower."

As she heard the shower turn on, she laughed and pulled out a box from the closet while muttering, "Wow, if I wear this he's going to shave. Someone call the press, Kisuke Urahara of the perpetual five o'clock shadow is going to shave." She snickered at her own joke and opens the box, her jaw dropped and she muttered, "No wonder he said he would be willing to shave to see me in this." She gave a small low whistle at the outfit, but shrugged and started putting it on after undressing from her nightclothes. It consisted of a black backless shirt with a set of scales with a scythe behind the scales, blood red Dragonhide pants that were lined in silk and so tight they were almost molded to her legs; however, the final touch in her mind was her boots. They were black with gold and red accents, the heels were four and three-quarter inches tall and they not only laced up the sides but they reached her knees. With a simple murmur, her bracers appeared on her forearms.

As she stepped in front of the full-length mirror on the wall by the closet, she shook her head and said, "Yoruichi would pick out an outfit that would make me look like a pirate. All I need is an eye patch, one of my zanpakuto and a hat, Yoruichi is so lucky that I can get away with not wearing a bra." As she said that, she gave a small glare at nothing, before shaking her head in exasperation at Kisuke's antics.

As she left the bedroom she shut the door quietly behind her and peeked into the room across from hers and Kisuke's to see if they are awake yet, she saw Remus not only awake but back in human form, thankfully he had the covers up to his waist. Remus put his forefinger against his lips to signal her to be quiet, she mimed zipping her mouth shut and mouthed, 'there are some of Kisuke's unwanted clothes in the closet along with some of Kensei's spare clothes. I'm going to start breakfast; Kisuke is taking a shower so just come down when you are ready.' Remus nodded his understanding and mouthed back 'thanks' she smiled at him and softly closed the door.

After checking in on Lily and after she found her sound asleep, she left a note about there being clothes in the closet that she can choose to wear. She walked downstairs to the kitchen and after looking through the fridge decide to make chocolate chip pancakes, bacon, hash browns, toast and cold cereal for breakfast as the cold cereal is relatively easy to fix as all it required was for it to be poured in a bowl and pour milk over that. She heard the shower in both the master and guest bedrooms turn off, just as she was done cooking the bacon and hash brown and was half way done with making the pancakes. Five minutes after she heard the master bedrooms shower turn off she heard Kisuke come down stairs, he moved her hair to the side and kissed her neck saying, "You look beautiful."

She turned her head and said, "Flatterer. Could you go wake up Aunt Lily and tell Remus that breakfast is almost ready?" She felt as Kisuke nodded against her neck and after he squeezed her lightly around the waist, he exited the kitchen and headed upstairs.

Halfway up the stairs, he met Remus and after he told him that breakfast was almost done he continued up the stairs. He said while knocking on the first door at the left of the stairs, "time to get up Miss Potter. Breakfast is almost ready."

Lily opened the door and said while covering a yawn, "alright. Just let me get dressed and I'll be downstairs in a minute." After getting Kisuke's agreement, she shut the door to get ready.

Kisuke walked down the hall to the second door and repeated the exercise except for James answering the door fully dressed. James was wearing jeans and a dark blue muscle shirt that showed off his arms and the jeans were tight enough to show the muscle definition in his legs. Kisuke smiled at him and commented, "I'll take a wild guess and say that like me you prefer to lie in bed for a while."

James laughed and replied, "Yeah. I'll do the same and take a guess to say that Kushina took after Remus in the way he likes to get up early."

Kisuke nodded and said, "If Remus gets up about an hour after dawn everyday then yes she did."

At that comment, James sighed and said, "Yeah she took after Remus then." Both had been walking down the stairs while talking and at the last comment by James, they reached the Kitchen where they saw Remus drooling over the fact that Kushina had made chocolate chip pancakes.

James smirked as he heard his mate whine, "Kushina stop teasing me." Then the two men heard a chuckle from behind them, James looked over his shoulder to see Lily smirking at Remus' whine.

Lily then lightly shoved both men through the doorway and said, "Can I help you with anything Kushina?"

Kushina looked up from where she had been flipping the last of the pancakes out of the pan and said, "No Aunt Lily, I've got this covered. That is unless you want to set the dinning room table?" At her last question, she cocked her head to the right and raised her left eyebrow.

Lily smiled at her niece then said, "Sure, where is the tableware located?"

When she asked that, Kisuke spoke up saying, "I'll show you where they are, there are at least three sets plus two sets of china. Kushina, are we using the stainless steel, the silver or the gold tableware set?"

Kushina said while not looking up from where she was getting out the cold cereal, "either the stainless steel or the gold, I don't really care which but we cannot use the silver anymore as Remus is a werewolf and thus allergic to it."

With that comment, Kisuke showed Lily where the tableware was located while he got the gold set of utensils out, they then set the table together and two minutes after the table was set Kushina had her parents help her carry the food to the table. Everyone then sat down and ate, while they were eating Kushina asked, "Dad, do you mind if we go to Diagon Alley today?"

James raised his right eyebrow but replied, "No I don't mind. I actually have to go to Gringotts to speak with them about a few things. Why?"

Kushina smiled at him and quipped, "I need to get some supplies for the study group I am going to be in charge of. Plus I need to pick up some additional potions supplies, some more ink and parchment, Owl treats for Hedwig, some wizarding candy for Ururu and Jinta, not to mention I need to buy some birthday presents for several of my friends."

Remus looked at her with his left eyebrow raised while asking, "Which of your friends are you buying presents for?"

Kushina smirked then said, "The first would be Hermione but her present will need Dad's permission, then Ginny, Neville needs a present, Percy's birthday is in the same month as Ginny's. I already know what to get Sirius but I will need the Headmasters and Aunt Lily's help with it. As for Astoria, I need to talk to Uncle 'Rus about part of hers."

Lily, Remus and James looked confused while Kisuke merely looked amused. Lily then hesitantly asked, "What would you need me to help with for Sirius' present?"

Kushina smirked and said, "Well I got to thinking, Sirius already has most of what he could possibly want. I mean, Dad is alive, he is free, Uncle 'Rus remembers their marriage, and he got to see Ichigo. So he already has most of what he wants, then I got to thinking, there is no way that the two of them were able to have a proper honeymoon during the last war, right?" as she asked the last question she glanced at her Dad and Aunt.

Lily nods then said, "You are right, unfortunately due to the war they were unable to have a honeymoon. Why?"

Kushina gave them a gentle smile while saying, "well that is the birthday present I want to give him, either a honeymoon or a weekend getaway. Since you are going to be assistant Potions Professor, you would be the one taking over the Potion classes for that week or weekend. So would you be willing?"

Lily looked thoughtful then nodded while saying, "I think I could handle that but the Headmaster would have to agree first."

Remus snickered and said, "No problem with that, he often complained to Minerva that Severus didn't take enough time off. If Kushina suggests letting him and Sirius go away for a weekend or even a week he would jump at the chance." After he commented that he looked at his daughter saying, "Good idea, Kushina that is one present that Sirius is going to love. So what do you plan to get the rest of your friends?"

Kushina hummed in thought then said, "Well I was actually thinking about giving Hermione access to all of the libraries of the Potter family at anytime she wants. I plan to give Ginny a Firebolt plus a professional broomcare kit to her as she was thinking about trying out to be reserve chaser for the Gryffindor team. I plan to give Neville some rare plant seeds and books on the care of rare plants. He will love that. I plan to get Percy a walkman and some CDs to play in it. Astoria is easy; I plan to give her an honor that most of her house would kill to have." As Kushina said that, she gave a wicked smile that sent chills up James' spine, at that moment she resembled her father a little too much. She then paused in thought and said, "And a coupon book filled with coupons for certain things, like get out of a Weasley twin prank coupon."

Lily raised both eyebrows and asked, "And just what honor would that be?"

Kushina chuckled and said, "if Uncle 'Rus agrees I plan to take her with us into the Chamber of Secrets, she will be the first female of Slytherin house to step foot in the Chamber in a great many years. Like I said an honor that most Slytherins would kill for."

Lily snorted then said, "I don't think Sev' would mind sharing that so long as he is the first male." At her remark both Remus and James laugh but nod in agreement.

Kisuke smirked before saying, "that coupon book is a good idea, what other sort of coupons do you plan to have in it?"

Kushina smirked back at him then started to list the coupons, "oh little things like if she hands me one that says a cake of her choice then I go bake a cake of her choice. Same thing for cookies and meals, I am going to put in at least twenty of each of those. Then there are coupons like a shoulder to cry on, or an open ear to hear her rant about whatever she wants to rant about. Coupons that say see someone slap Draco Malfoy across the face, or someone to cover for her while she does it herself. You know little things like that."

At that James, Remus, Lily and Kisuke all blinked and then Remus stated, "You put a lot of thought into this present haven't you?"

Kushina stared at him in disbelief then said, "of course I put a lot of thought into her present if it wasn't for her and Hermione last year I don't think I would be this sane!"

Remus and Kisuke got looks of comprehension on their faces but Lily and James still looked completely confused. James poked Remus and demanded with his hazel eyes flashing, "Remus, tell me what does our daughter mean by that sentence?"

Remus gulped then blurted out, "a death eater disguised as Mad-eye entered her into the Tri-wizarding Tournament. The most of the school thought she had entered herself into it including her friend Ron, only Hermione stood by her. I didn't know that she also had found a friend in Astoria." As he finished speaking he winced while waiting for James' temper to blow.

At his first sentence James started to grind his teeth in anger, after Remus finished he snarled out, "you mean to tell me that the Ministry forced my daughter to compete when by their order they could have done three silly tasks then declared a winner then started all over." Remus nodded miserably while simultaneously wincing and thinking 'if he is this mad about this then what is he going to be like when he reads the Daily Prophet.' At that thought he shuddered in fear, in his head Moony was whimpering at the thought of his mates rather considerable anger.

Kushina eyes flashed a bright gold in anger and said, "You mean to tell me that the Ministry could have gotten me out of the Tournament?"

At her question both James and Lily nod then Lily says, "yes and by them not doing so they all but declared you to be an adult as only those who are of age can enter the Tournament. I am fairly sure that James will be having words with them about that, not even Dumbledore can override the Ministers choice concerning the Tournament champions. However by the Ministry forcing you to compete in an adult's only affair in front of two foreign schools he declared that your Ministry considered you an adult."

James gave them a very wicked smile and then said while laughing lowly, "the current Minister is going to learn why no one ever messes with the Potter family. As several of our mottos declare, 'Familia ante omnia' or Family before all else, 'Mors ultra fidem' or Loyalty beyond death, and finally 'Tenebris est fortitudo nostra' or from darkness comes our strength. It would appear the wizarding world has forgotten that although Potter's never side with any Dark Lords, we are not a light family, we are more of a gray, a very, very dark gray." At that, Kushina raised her eyebrows while smirking, it was clear from her expression she would gladly point her Dad at the Minister of Magic. James took one look at his daughter and mates faces, upon seeing that they had no intention of stopping his revenge he smirked and said, "Well now I need to talk to Severus about this. Its times like this that I wish I had a more Slytherin mindset," when he said that he pouted slightly.

Kushina smirked while saying, "Well if it is a Slytherin mindset you want Dad, then talk to Kisuke. After all, he created and ran a Research and Development department, as well as running the Twelfth division of the Thirteen court guard squads. Not to mention he helped free several people who were slated for execution due to events beyond their control. He also managed to hide them, himself, his best friend and former captain Yoruichi, along with his current shop assistant Tessai for one hundred years." As she spoke she gestured to her fiancé and smirked smugly.

At that James looked as if Christmas had come early, he then turned toward Kisuke and pulled him aside to talk it over. Then he paused and looking completely bamboozled asked, "What do you mean one hundred years?"

Kushina and Kisuke's lips twitch in amusement, then Kushina explains, "Kisuke is a Soul Reaper, they do not age as normal humans do. This is due to the fact that they are souls not living beings, the only ones who able to see and touch spirits are those that have a high amount of Reiatsu. Wizards and the like tend to have high amounts of Reiatsu and as such can see spirits, which is why those of the order were able to see Kenpachi and his men. However, Kisuke is currently in a gigai that allows normal humans without Reiatsu to see him, generally soul reapers do not use a gigai except when they are either injured or as necessary for their mission. One of the soul reapers jobs is to help spirits crossover to Soul Society and to eliminate the threat of hollows, wizarding ghosts are different to normal spirits due to the interference of magic, magic allows them to stay pluses and eventually completely seal their soul chain. This allows them to stay in the living world without them turning into hollows."

At that both James and Lily blink in shock at the overload of information, but James finally shrugs and says, "oh well at least my plan will have the benefit of over one hundred years experience."

Kushina sighed in disbelief at her father's actions while Remus merely smiled indulgently at his mates antics. Finally, Kushina looked at Kisuke and said, "go ahead and talk it over, while you are doing that me, Remus and Lily will be washing dishes unless they want to join in your talk." At that, she looked toward the two adults who looked at each other and finally Remus indicated he would be joining James and Kisuke in their planning session. Lily on the other hand joined Kushina in the kitchen, so as the two women washed up and Kushina had caught Lily up on information, the men settled into planning the demise or at least downfall of the Minister of Magic.

Meanwhile at Hogwarts in the dungeon, two men stirred from slumber, both men had black hair but one had blue-gray eyes while the other had eyes as black as his hair. Severus stirred first, he carefully stretched so as not to disturb the man slumbering beside him, Sirius had his right arm over Severus' waist, Severus smiled down at Sirius then gently extracted himself from Sirius' grasp. He then padded lightly over to the bathroom to deal with his morning ablutions and other such necessities. By the time, he started the shower, Sirius had woken up and joined him in the bathroom, whereupon he wrapped his arms around Severus waist and purred into his ear, "mind if I join you, handsome."

Severus chuckled and murmured while leaning back into Sirius' embrace, "Have I ever refused that offer, Sirius?"

Sirius smiled wickedly into the back of Severus' neck and murmured back, "well… no, but I like to make sure that I'm welcome first."

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After they had showered and gotten dressed, and were heading to the Great Hall to have breakfast, Severus smirked while saying, "If I start every morning just like this, my students will begin to think I've been replaced by an impostor."

Sirius snorted then said, "Well they had just better get used to it because I am not leaving your side for any reason. I just got you back, Lily told you that you don't need to continue spying for her and I highly doubt you are going to be able to go back to the way you treated our goddaughter."

Severus sighed and nodded, he knew that Sirius was right he would never be able to go back to hating his goddaughter, nor be able to treat her as he had before, not even for her own safety. Therefore, he merely nods while replying to Sirius' statement, "I know so I suppose my Slytherins will just have to get used to their Head of House walking around with a happy expression on his face. Terribly un-Slytherin of me I know," he then hummed in thought before smirking while saying, "I wonder how many Gryffindors will faint from shock."

Sirius' lips twitched in amusement then gently pointed out, "Imagine what Professor Trelawney's reaction is going to be when she sees me following you around in my animagus form."

At that, Severus at first snickered then started laughing uncontrollably, at which point they had reached the Great Hall and the assembled teachers were staring at Severus in shock. Thankfully, the only teachers present had already been informed by the Headmaster and Minerva about Sirius' innocence and presence in the castle. In fact the only teachers in the school were the heads of house and a few others like Madam Hooch, Madam Pomfrey and Professor Sinstra. Professor Trelawney was absent from the table as she almost never came down to meals.

So the fact that he was there was not a shock what was shocking was the fact that Sirius had gotten Severus to laugh. Minerva's lips twitch in amusement when she hears Albus ask, "Ah Sirius my boy, just what does Severus find so funny?"

Sirius gave them a mischievous grin and said in a mock innocent tone, "I honestly don't know, I merely remarked that I wondered what some of the students and Professors reactions would be to my animagus form." At his last comment, he affected an innocent look, the look on his face coupled with his comment made Minerva start laughing which made some of the teachers who come to teach after Sirius graduated looked at her in shock while those who taught or went to school with Sirius merely smiled and shook their heads in amusement.

Albus laughed then said, "That would certainly explain Severus' amusement. Might I enquire as to what the two of you plan to do today?"

Severus calmed down from his bout of laughter then answered him, "I need to start working on restocking Madam Pomfrey's potion stores for the upcoming year. I don't know what Sirius plans to do, so I can't answer for him." With his last sentence he glanced to his left where Sirius was standing talking to Minerva about the lesson plans for transfiguration as that was one of his best classes during his years at Hogwarts.

Albus smiled at Severus and commented, "Somehow I do not believe that Sirius will be willing to let you out of his sight for too long Severus."

At that sentence Sirius looked at them and said, "you're right about that Albus, there is no way I am going to let Severus out of my sight. Besides I'm not that bad of a brewer, I can at least brew burn salve and the easier potions."

Severus smirked at Albus and said while snickering, "well I guess that answers your question."

After the two women were done washing, they walked out into the living room to see the three men finishing their talk, Kushina cocked her head to the right and asked, "All finished?"

Kisuke smirked and after getting up from the couch walked over to her. He then said while wrapping one arm around her waist and leaning his forehead against hers, "yes, we are all done planning the Ministers demise or at least ruin. So are we leaving to this 'Diagon Ally' soon, my dearest muse?" The sparkle in his eyes was the exact same as the one Minato got when he was devising a new seal combination. The last time she had seen that gleam was right before Minato earned the nickname the 'Yellow Flash.'

Kushina laughed lowly and said after gently nuzzling his cheek with hers, "Yes Kisuke we are leaving soon." Just as she said that, they all heard the trap door to the training area bang open, and all those who met him before recognized Ichigo's voice.

Ichigo was muttering under his breath about short midgets who just will not take no for an answer and older brothers who are way too dense to see hints that are right in front of their faces. Kushina's lips twitch and she calls out, "don't tell me that Rukia is still trying to convince you to just flat out tell Byakuya that you are Hisana reborn. Nor that you have been dropping blatant hints about being her in front of him and he is remaining oblivious to it."

Ichigo finished climbing out of the trap door and looked up at her; he then said with his brown eyes flashing in anger, "yeah that's what I'm pissed about. Rukia seems to think that if I flat out tell him he is just going to welcome me warmly. She just does not get that I am still mad at him and want him to work for the truth. I mean it's not like I'm acting all that different from what I used to before I got sick, so he should recognize my damn habits by now." At his last sentence, he huffed in anger, while looking toward the side.

Kushina crooned while having a look of mock sympathy on her face, "oh poor Ichigo." She then said with a large mischievous grin on her face, "would you like to accompany us to Diagon Ally and pick up some pranking supplies?"

Ichigo's head shot up and he got an eager look on his face, "you bet I would." He then looked a bit sheepish and said, "I don't suppose you know if I have a vault in Gringotts do you?"

Kushina laughed and said, "I mailed them the question about that once I regained my memories of my childhood and remembered who you used to be. The answer is yes, you do have a vault, apparently, you forgot that you had a will and left your vault to Masaki's first born child. Which luckily for you was yourself, however your grandfather Marius was left a substantial amount from his uncle Phineas Black as he had been declared to be Phineas' heir despite being a squib. So yeah even without your original vault you would be able to still buy things."

Ichigo breathed a sigh of relief at the news, and then he put his left hand behind his head and said sheepishly, "I actually forgot I left my vault to Masaki's first born child."

Both Kushina and Kisuke slapped their foreheads with their left hands and chorused, "Ichigo, how could you have possibly forgotten!"

At that, Ichigo shrugged and said, "It just slipped my mind alright." He then sighed and looked toward Kushina asking, "Kushina, you have always given good advice, what the hell do I do about Byakuya?"

Kushina looked at him and replied after sighing, "Well, according to you, you are not acting any differently then you did when you were Hisana. Tell me Ichigo did it ever occur to you that you were not that comfortable around him at first?"

Ichigo gaped at her in shock then said after face palming himself, "I can't believe I was that stupid, of course he hasn't realized it's me. I've been acting like I did after ten years of knowing him, as despite his multiple reassurances to me it took a while for me to trust him with my true self." After saying that he shook his head at himself then after giving, a self-depreciation laugh said, "well there is only one thing to do, convince him that I can be as polite as I was at first while still remaining true to myself. Besides I do have a lecture to give to Toshiro Hitsugaya about the Black family curse." At that, he got a darkly gleeful look on his face and cackled gleefully.

Kushina merely looked amused at his actions she then tapped her foot impatiently saying, "So shall we get going? The Daily Prophet should have already posted the news about Dad and Aunt Lily being alive. However it would probably be a good idea to disguise yourselves until everyone calms down about the information." James and Lily nod in agreement to her suggestion.

Remus blinked at Kushina's idea but after agreeing asked, "so how are we going to the Leaky Cauldron?" While he asked this Lily was casting Glamour charms over both of them, by the time she finished James had dark brown hair with green eyes while she had gray eyes and strawberry blond hair. She also decided to disguise Remus by giving him chocolate brown eyes and dark red hair.

Her reasoning behind his change, "everyone who went to school with you would know that you would not let James out of your sight after you found him alive." As she said that she rolled her eyes, she then turned and walked back toward Kushina where she waited for her answer to Remus' question.

Kushina hummed then said, "I figured we would either floo or take the Knight Bus as the only method of transport here is the Motorcycle that Sirius has been working on."

James shrugged then said, "Well I don't really care which one we use. So the four of you can decide."

Kisuke hummed in thought and asked, "What is the floo and Knight Bus?" He looked at her curiously as he asked that, raising his eyebrows in query.

Kushina groaned then turned toward him and explained, "The Knight Bus is a Double Decker Bus that can only be seen by those with a high amount of Reiatsu. The Floo system is a series of connected Fireplaces; you use floo powder to transport yourself without being burned."

Kisuke hummed some more then chirped, "I say go by floo, maybe I can work out a way to use it in Soul Society." At that comment both Kushina and Ichigo groaned in despair because knowing Kisuke he would find a way to make it work.

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In the end they decided to head straight to Gringotts via the Floo, while James, Remus and Kushina went and talked with the Potter account manager, Ichigo went to his Vault to retrieve money so he could buy presents for some of the shinigami. After getting out enough money and converting some to muggle pounds, he left to go to the Magical Menagerie for Chad's present first.

As he walked into the Magical Menagerie, a Kneazle carrying a kitten approached him. The owner said, "Huh, I guess you must know the person who the kitten will belong to or you are the one the kitten will belong to. Are you looking for a pet or looking for someone else?" When Ichigo told the owner that he was 'looking for a pet for a friend who liked cute things.' The owner hummed then said, "the kitten is probably for your friend then since that Kneazle was always able to tell who the kittens would chose." Ichigo then paid for the kneazle kitten along with items for its care.

The next place on his itinerary was Flourish and Blotts to pick up books for Shuhei, Kenpachi, Karin, Byakuya, and Tatsuki. Shuhei got books on music, while Karin got them on Quidditch as she had asked him about certain things and he was sure she would like her own copy of the books he remembered. Kenpachi got an assortment of books including wizarding fairy tales while he got Byakuya a self-updating book on Wizarding nobility. Tatsuki was easy to buy books for, as all he had to do was find books on Magical versions of Martial Arts.

After Flourish and Blotts came the Stationary store that no one knew the name of even after all these years. He found Rukia's present there in the form of a beginners guide to drawing kit, which contained a never-ending pad of drawing paper along with a large assortment of colored pencils, paint, and ink. Thankfully he also found some pencils that were charmed to be able to draw upon the users own memory and imagination to help draw the pictures, so maybe now Rukia's drawings might make more sense. After prolonged use, some of the ability that the pencils used would imprint itself upon the user, which helped beginning students of art gain experience.

After the stationary shop, he headed into the Magical instrument shop, where he found several guidebooks on how to play guitars and how to tune them for Shuhei. He also got a magical wireless radio for Kenpachi since classical music sent Yachiru right to sleep as well as calming her down from her sugar highs. He then went to Madam Malkin's Robes for all occasions for magical cloth for Uryu as well as sewing supplies for him, while there he also picked up some embroidery thread for Yuzu along with order form for them both.

Once he was done with Madam Malkin's he headed out into London to pick up some more presents, he used the underground to make his way to a sweet shop that both he and Sirius frequented as children. Once he got there, he picked out a large assortment of candy for Yachiru, Yuzu, Karin, and Jushiro. He also picked up some watermelon-flavored candy for Toshiro, after he paid for the candy, he made his way to a bookstore and bought some more books for Kenpachi this time focused on the history of the modern world.

After he had finished doing that he made his way to an empty alleyway and summoned the Knight Bus, he paid the bus fare to Hogsmead, once in Hogsmead he made his way to the Three Broomsticks. He purchased Butterbeer from Madam Rosmerta for Yuzu, Karin, and Shunsui. After he did that, he made his way across the street to Honeyduke's where he bought a very large assortment of both their sweets and chocolate for Yachiru, Yuzu, Karin and Jushiro.

After he was done purchasing the candy he made his way to the Hogshead bar where he paid for five bottle of Ogden's Old Firewhiskey for Shunsui, as he knew the captain would appreciate it. Once he bought the Firewhiskey, he once again summoned the Knight Bus and paid them to return him to the Leaky Cauldron to meet up with Kushina and the others in Diagon Alley for lunch.

While Ichigo had gone to his vault to retrieve the money necessary to buy the presents, Kushina, Remus and James were in a meeting with the Potter account manager. James had inquired as to how the finances were being handled. After he demanded a report of the vaults he was looking over the manifests' of his estate. Kushina was leaning against the back of her father's chair, Remus was sitting in the right chair in front of the managers desk while James sat in the left.

At first the manager objected to Remus being in the office on the grounds that he was not a Potter and thus not privileged to hear the information. James scathingly retorted that Remus was his mate and the father of his daughter, thus he was indeed a Potter. He then told him that if he objected again about Remus' presence then he would just have to find another manager for his estate. The goblin quickly shut up about Remus being in the room, Kushina quickly hid her grin behind Kisuke's fan, she had stolen it from him just before Lily and him left Gringotts, at the goblins reaction to being threatened with losing his job.

After giving the vault manager a series of orders concerning the Potter estate the three left his office to go to the Potter vault along with going to Kushina's Vault that she inherited from her Great-Grandmother. Thankfully she and Ichigo had already come to Gringotts after Kushina's fifteenth birthday for her to retrieve the Noir family ring. James signed off on Ichigo inheriting the title of Lord Noir thus the cousins would be Co-Heads of the Noir family line, even though there were really only two people alive who had a legitimate claim to the Noir name.

After they collected enough money to buy the supplies for the summer and since Remus decided that he would use the same texts he did for Kushina's third year again they decided to pick up some of Kushina's school supplies now rather than wait. After meeting up with Lily and Kisuke in Florean's, apparently he was trying to convince her to try a bizarre flavor and she was having none of his convincing. The three snickered at the expression on her face at the thought of trying Chili Pepper Ice Cream.

Lily then watched amused as he took three bites of it in quick succession, and promptly started to fan his mouth to try to cool it down. Lily then proceeded to join the other three in their laughter, as he was fanning his mouth, she told James, "he's been doing that for a while. He takes a few bites then the Chili Peppers hit and he then tries to cool his mouth down."

Kushina shook her head at her Fiancés actions, she then walked over to him. After she stopped him from taking another bite, she asked, "have you been entertaining my Aunt, Kisuke?" As she asked him this she had taken the spoon from him and after she finished asking him took a bite of the ice cream. However unlike him she didn't start fanning her mouth to cool it off.

The blond man blinked in shock then asked, "why aren't you fanning your mouth? Isn't it hot?"

She smirked at him, finished off his ice cream then said while walking away from him, "no my mouth is fine. The milk in the ice cream cuts the heat of the Chilli Peppers, so if you only take one bite you don't have to try to cool your mouth off." As she walked back to her parents she muttered something about 'silly man,' she then called back over her shoulder, "come on Kisuke. We need to pick up my school supplies and a few other things."

He looked down at his empty bowl, pouted slightly but got up from his seat and followed her. As he caught up to them, Kushina grabbed his hand and dragged him into Madam Malkin's. As he was dragged in he asked plaintively, "why are we coming in here?"

Lily called back to them, "because James wants to buy Remus new robes and if the two of us are going to be Assistant Professors then we need teaching robes. Kushina also needs to pick up the female school uniform since she has been wearing the male uniform for the last four years." As she was speaking she had been moving amongst the everyday robes, browsing through them, she took out a few of different colors. After doing so she came over to Kushina and held some against her to see which color would look best on her. She quickly decided on emerald green, blood red, and sapphire blue.

While she was doing this James had pulled Madam Malkin to the side and told her that he was buying an entire new wardrobe for his husband, his sister and himself, while his daughter needed new uniforms for this upcoming year at Hogwarts. She started to get Remus' measurements first after she had gotten them she asked James to step onto the platform so she could get his. Lily had just finished when James stepped down from the measuring stand, when she was called over she told Kushina to pick out some everyday robes that she like so long as they were in those three colors.

The order was to be sent to Jackal's Lair when finished, so they left Madam Malkin's after Kushina had Kisuke measured for dress robes to complement hers. They then traveled next door to Flourish and Blotts, where Kushina picked up the standard course books for her year. While the clerk was retrieving the list from the back, Kisuke started browsing he found some books he liked while he was doing that Remus, James and Lily were doing the same. Kushina also browsed while waiting for the clerk to get done with the customer before her.

In the end they bought 21 additional books to the standard books, most were copies of the same book but there were a few that only one person wanted such as Achievement in Charms for Lily while only Kisuke wanted Jinxes for the Jinxed and Saucy Tricks for Tricky Sorts. They bought three of Practical Defensive Magic and Its Uses Against the Dark Arts, Most Potente Potions, Advanced Potions-Making, and Curses and Counter Curses was wanted by Kushina, James and Kisuke. When all three had grabbed a copy of it the other two groaned but let them have it.

However they only got two copies of, A Compendium of Common Curses and Their Counter-Curses, The Dark Arts Outsmarted, and Magick Moste Evile. The first two was bought by Kushina and Kisuke while the last was bought by Remus and Kushina. After the book store came the Stationary Shop where they picked up quills, parchment and ink both color changing as well as standard black.

As they walked past the Quidditch shop, James stopped and drooled over the Firebolt sitting in the window, Kushina dragged him away stating, "come on Dad. If you want to drool over it you can always come back by yourself later." He pouted but followed her into the Apothecary, where Lily picked up a bit of everything in order to prepare for the year ahead of her and Kushina picked up the standard potions kits for years 4-6 as well as years 1-7 for Kisuke. She knew he would want to experiment with potions, after all he was a mad scientist but he was her mad scientist. So she merely smiled indulgently when he was flitting about the shop and questioning the proprietor about what the ingredients could make, how were they prepared, and when were they collected.

The last stop before they went to the Leaky Cauldron to meet Ichigo was the Cauldron Shop where Lily, Kushina and Kisuke picked up several cauldrons. When Lily questioned why Kushina was picking up so many, she told her Aunt that due to Severus' spying position he had to look the other direction when it came to the Slytherin's actions. So they often had blown up or melted cauldrons in her potions class, Lily commented that it was no wonder that Severus wanted her to take the first through fifth years as she wouldn't put up with such foolishness in her classes.

After they finished that they exited the ally into the pub that guarded the entrance, they found Ichigo sitting at the bar drinking a bottle of Butterbeer with the bottomless bag sitting at his feet. As they came in he looked up, smiled at them then asked, "hey, all done with your shopping?" When they nodded he said, "great, I'm finished as well. Why don't we have lunch here then head back to the house?"

James nodded then said, "sounds good to me. How does that sound to you?" As he asked that he looked at the others with his right eyebrow raised in query. After they agreed, Remus decided to have Breaded Mushrooms for starters then Steak and Guinness pie with mash for his main course, while Kisuke and Kushina had a Pasta Bake with Garlic Bread, Lily chose to have Chicken Kiev with no entree. James and Ichigo both had Cheese and Bacon Burgers with Chips, however, everyone had Butterbeer with their meals. After they finished their meal they used the Floo to go back to Jackal's Lair, when they got there they found that Kenpachi was waiting impatiently for a spar with Kushina.


	11. Chapter 10: Slaying the Past Most Foul

Chapter Ten: Slaying the Past Most Foul

The next day Sirius came over, to his surprise Ichigo was visiting Kushina again. Sirius looked at them and asked, "so when do you two want to get that Locket?" At that comment Lily and James looked confused but both of the others gained comprehending looks.

Ichigo looked up at him and said, "whenever you want Sirius. I'm good to go at anytime." He then looked over at his red haired cousin and asked, "are you ready Kushina?"

She smirked and said while patting the bracers on her forearms, "I'm always ready Ichigo." When she patted them it drew her parents attention, the bracers went from her wrists to her elbows. They were made of black leather, one had a stylized Jackal on it, while embossed on the other was a crow holding a scythe in its talons. The Jackal bracer was on her right arm while the crow was on her left. "So how will we be getting the Locket?" Much to their shock neither of the bracers had any visible means of closure, as she spoke she ran her fingers over the embossed images. After she did that they seemed to become luminescent, after she was done she looked up at Sirius and Ichigo.

Sirius smiled, then said, "I was thinking of calling Kreacher here and asking him about the night Regulus died. Why?" While he was speaking he crossed his arms over his chest and raised his left eyebrow in question,

She shrugged and replied, "oh, no real reason, Sirius. I was just curious."

With that Sirius summoned Kreacher and asked him what had happened the night Regulus died. After Kreacher told the tale of the seaside cave, Sirius asked, "Kreacher, can you bring the locket here? Ichigo thinks he can help you complete the task that Regulus set you."

At that Kreacher sniffed and stared up at the boy who his mistress had called a bad boy then said, "right away Master Sirius." With that he disappeared with a crack, he returned moments later holding a heavy gold locket with a serpentine S on the front. He set the locket down on the floor, then looked up at Sirius, Ichigo and Kushina and said, "you is going to help Kreacher destroy Master Regulus' locket?"

Ichigo kneeled down and placing his hands on Kreacher's shoulders and told him, "yes, I am." Ichigo then turned toward Kushina while he asked, "Kushina, can you open it for me?"

She nodded and hissed at the locket saying "Open now," once she said that the locket opened and Ichigo pierced it with the tip of Zangetsu. Everyone in the room heard a unearthly scream as the locket hissed around the swords tip.

Once the scream had ceased Ichigo withdrew the tip from the locket. He then said, "well that makes three down and four to go."

As he said this he tossed the locket at Kushina who caught it, then repaired it, "I think you should have this, as you have carried it all these years attempting to fill your masters last request and destroy it." As she stated that she slipped the chain over the elf's head and settled it against his chest.

He puffed up in pride staring up at her with watery eyes, he said, "thank you, young mistress."

She smiled down at him and told him, "you're welcome, Kreacher."

Sirius looked down at the house elf and said, "Kreacher, I know that you don't like me much, but I am the Lord of the house of Black. I know that #12 Grimmauld Place is in bad shape due to you being the only house elf. So I will be sending two other elves to help you clean it up. It is time that the Black family regain what the dark lord made us lose." At that Kreacher looked confused, so Sirius elaborated, "our honor. The Black family was once known for our honor but ever since we aligned ourselves with Voldemort our family has lost that honor. It is time that the Black family be respected for our honor once more." As he spoke Kreacher stood straighter and beamed up at his master.

Kushina looked at him and queried, "which house elves are you sending to help him?"

Sirius looked at her and said, "Dobby and Winky." He then looked back down at Kreacher and ordered, "Kreacher, you are going to have to clean up the house, I will not have any house of the Black family look like that." After he nodded his understanding, Sirius then gave him another order, "Bellatrix Lestrange nee Black is hereby disowned from the family, she is not to be given aid nor is her summon to be answered. Andromeda Tonks nee Black is hereby reinstated to the Black family as well as her child Nymphadora. As such their orders are to be obeyed. Understood?"

Kreacher bowed to Sirius and said, "as you wish Master Sirius. What of Mistress Narcissa?" As the house elf asked his question, Kushina had been walking back from the kitchen, when she heard the question she looked at Sirius with her left eyebrow raised.

Sirius sighed, then said, "if she calls answer but inform her about Bellatrix's change in status and also tell her that if _any_ member of the Black family giving Bellatrix aid will also be disowned." Kreacher bowed and then disappeared with a sharp crack. After Kreacher left Sirius turned toward James and Lily beaming at them, "hey you two, how have you been?"

Lily smiled at him and said, "we've been pretty good. A little confused right now, but good, why?"

Ichigo smirked and said, "he's probably wondering if we've driven you crazy yet." As Ichigo made that remark Sirius glared at him playfully and tackled him against the couch tickling his ribs. Much to Kisuke's and Kushina's amusement, Ichigo started to laugh uncontrollably.

Kushina commented, "you know Kisuke-Love, you should show this memory to Ichigo's friends when you get home."

Kisuke hid his face behind his fan and said, "I'll take your suggestion under advisement my dearest muse." Remus snickered having overheard the conversation. Upon hearing his laughter Kisuke glanced at him, eyes glinting mischievously, he then said, "find the idea funny, do you?"

Remus merely nods and smirks at him.

Ichigo sniffed and said, "I know when I'm not wanted." With that he dropped down into the underground training area.

"Don't worry, he's just going to train for a while. Other wise he would have gotten back into his gigai." Kushina commented lightly while heading to the kitchen to make dinner. She paused in the doorway and asked over her shoulder, "Sirius, could you do me a favor and ask the Headmaster if me and Ichigo can come check the school for any horcruxes?"

Sirius smiled at her, "no problem."

When he got back to Hogwarts the first place Sirius went was to the Headmaster's office, he gave the gargoyle the password, "Saltwater Taffy." He went up the stairs and knocked on the headmasters door.

"Enter."

Sirius opened the door. "Ah hello Sirius. How were the Potters today?" He asked, sitting across from Albus was Minerva. They were apparently going over some of the things that needed to be updated, like the list of banned items.

Sirius smiled at them, "ah, they're fine. They went shopping in Diagon Alley earlier today, underneath a glamour of course. Kushina was wondering if she could show Kisuke and Ichigo around Hogwarts. Ichigo's little sisters might be coming to Hogwarts to study next year. So can she?" He asked with his head cocked to the left. "I was also wondering if I can have Dobby and Winky go to Headquarters to help Kreacher with cleaning it up?"

Albus leaned forward with his elbows on his desk, "I don't see any reason she couldn't. Unless you have any objections, Minerva. And you most certainly may have them help."

Minerva shook her head, "I have no objections at all. Tell them we'll see them tomorrow."

Sirius nodded, "if the two of you will excuse me. I have a husband to go ravish senseless." With that he turned and left the office but not before seeing the two Professors turn bright red.

The next day, Ichigo, Kisuke and Kushina came to Hogwarts. Kushina played through giving a tour for the other professors benefit since no one was supposed to know about Ichigo being Regulus' reincarnation. When they reached the seventh floor he lead them to the portrait of Barnabas the Barmy and the three paced in front of it thinking _'I need a place to hide my things, I need a place to hide my things, I need a place to hide my things.'_ On the third pass a door appeared.

When they entered they found a room full mismatched items including broken and damaged furniture as well as books upon books. There was also a stuffed troll, who ever would want one of those was the thought that went though all of three's heads. They noticed rusty weapons lying around and Sirius noticed a broken cabinet off to the side, he thought he recognized it as a vanishing cabinet. He made a mental note to destroy it as soon as possible.

"So what are we looking for anyway Kushina?" Ichigo asked while he looked around the room.

"It's a tiara or diadem, it should have an eagle embossed on it," she commented while tossing aside a bloodstained axe.

As they searched the room for the tiara, Sirius came across congealing potions in cracked vials. "Yuck, that's disgusting," Sirius said while he shuddered in revulsion.

Ichigo shouted from one of the corners of the room, "I found it!"

Kushina looked at him, "terrific bring it over but be careful not to touch it with your bare hands."

Ichigo brought it toward them, thankfully already wearing dragon hide gloves as protection, Kushina spoke up, "I'll do this one if you don't mind Ichigo."

He shrugged, "go ahead. I mostly wanted to be the one to destroy the locket since I died to get it." With that he placed the diadem on the floor and gestured for her to have at it.

Kushina placed her right hand at the crook of her left elbow and cried out, "Spread thy wings and bare thy blade. DEFEND ME, THANATOS!" A bright flash and she stood before them holding a scythe with a wickedly curved blade, the handle appeared to be made out of Ivory carved to resemble a skeleton. The part that held the blade was the skull of the animal and the front limbs, the skull held the top steady while the limbs held the bottom in place. The handle was carved in an S shape and the vertebra was carved down around the shaft about four feet after the four foot mark the handle was smooth and polished.

She smiled down at the scythe fondly, "hello Thanatos feel like slaying a soul piece today."

They heard a deep chuckle from behind her, "of course my lady." They could see a tall man with a shaggy beard and piercing emerald eyes, of course what shocked them the most was the black feathered wings coming from his back.

With his comment Kushina flipped the blade to where the tip was pointing downward and pierced the tiara in twain. They all heard the shriek of the soul leaving its container and disappearing. "Hmmm, well that's done. How many do we have left to destroy?" Ichigo asked casually.

"Well with this one's destruction, along with the lockets, the diary was destroyed in my second year, and I destroyed one just this past summer. So all we have left to destroy is the Ring, the Cup and Moldy Voldy's snake, Nagini." Kushina replied just as casually.

Sirius gaped at them for how they were so casually discussing the destruction of Horcruxes.

"Well lets continue the tour, Cousin Dear." Ichigo said while pulling Sirius by the back of his robes.

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Later that night while everyone was asleep in Jackal's Lair, two people were still awake, Kushina and Ichigo were planning the destruction of the last Horcrux they could get their hands on at the moment. The ring that Voldemort had hidden in his mothers childhood home. "So how do you want to do this?" Ichigo asked her.

Kushina leaned forward resting her elbows on her knees and interlacing her fingers together. "I say we both use your badge to get out of my body and your gigai, we'll leave them here in the living room with the TV turned on. They'll assume we fell asleep in front of the TV and I've already told Kisuke to have them put us in the rooms we've been sleeping in."

Ichigo nodded then got up to retrieve his badge from his room, after retrieving it they both used it and arranged their bodies on the couch to lean against each other. With that both left the house and used shunpo to reach Little Hangleton. Once they arrived they quickly made their way to the woods and found the tiny shack that had a snake pinned to the door. "This the place, Kushina?" Ichigo asked in a slightly disgusted tone.

"Yeah, don't you just love Voldemort's idea of exterior decorating?" Kushina drawled sarcastically. "Let's get this over with already." She said with a sneer worth of her Godfather.

"Lets," Ichigo said, before gesturing to the door. "well do your magic with Parseltongue."

She snorted but stepped up to the door and guessed at a password, "open for the heir of Slytherin," when she tried that one she got a hiss. "Wrong password, try again." She frowned, "well that one wasn't it."

"What did you try?" Ichigo asked.

"Open for the heir of Slytherin." Kushina replied.

Ichigo frowned, "try open for the greatest dark lord ever seen." He suggested.

She shrugged but did as he bade, "open for the greatest Dark Lord ever seen." With that the snake hissed and opened the door for them. "Well second times the charm huh. Who goes in to get it?"

"I will, you might need to open the door again and I can't speak Parseltongue." Ichigo said while passing her. He walked through the door with no problem and found the ring sitting in plain sight as if Voldemort was sure no one would ever come here. He took Zangetsu by the hilt and took some of the white cloth around the tang and cut it off to fold the ring up in. Once he had the ring safely wrapped in the cloth he exited the hovel, he saw Kushina sitting on the stone fence surrounding the hovel.

She looked up at him, "got it?" He nodded to her.

"So where do you want to destroy it?" he asked quietly.

She tilted her head back to gaze at the stars above her, "how about the shrieking shack? No one would even bat an eye over the shriek from it." As she spoke she continued to gaze up at the stars.

He smiled at her, "good idea. Lets go then."

With that both used shunpo once more to reach Hogsmead and slipped inside of the Shrieking shack via a loose board on the side of the building. Once inside they easily made their way to the living room and Ichigo put the cloth covered ring in the middle. Kushina carefully unwrapped it and called forth Anubis to slay this particular soul piece. She pierced the stone with the tip of the sword and the same shriek that accompanied the other destructions rang out into the night. To make sure nothing else was on the ring she used a rat that Hedwig had brought her earlier that evening. She put the tail of the rat through the ring and to their surprise it quickly disintegrated, "ouch, I'm glad neither of us put that on." She remarked.

"I agree for once, I suggest you have that checked by your Dad, Papa and Aunt before using it." Ichigo suggested.

"I was planning on that," She retorted. "let's get back to Jackal's Lair before they realize we're gone. If we're lucky they'll still be asleep when we return." Kushina continued.

Ichigo nodded and they made their way back outside, careful not to be seen by anyone in the area. Once outside they used shunpo once more to go back to Jackal's Lair and carefully snuck back into the house. Thankfully for the pair no one was awake and they slipped back into their bodies. Ichigo picked up the remote and turned off the TV, "I'm going to bed. 'Night Kushina." With that Ichigo slipped into the study where he had been crashing for the last two days.

Kushina walked quietly up the stairs to her and Kisuke's bedroom, once she reached it she quickly slipped inside soundlessly. After she shut the door she walked over to the closet and got out her sleeping clothes, a button up shirt that Kisuke wore every so often and a pair of sweat pants. She walked over to the bed and crawled in after changing clothes, she then snuggled into his side. He rolled over and draped his left arm over her waist, "finish what you needed to do?" He asked quietly with his chin resting on top of her head.

She smiled into his chest, "yeah, there are only two left now."

He kissed her hair and laughed quietly, "I'm glad to hear that. Soon you're burden will be lifted and you'll be free."

She looked up at him and smiled, "that will be nice. I'll be glad to complete my mission for the King, I know Ichigo is aching to complete his mission. I know you'll have to go back to Karakura soon, but…Could you come see me off to school this time?" She asked anxiously.

He rolled over on his back bringing her with him to lie on top of him, she rose up slightly to look into his eyes. He raised his right hand and gently drew it down her left cheek as he did so she leaned into the caress. "For you my dear. Gladly," he then gently drew her down into a kiss, "but I'm afraid we both have to go to sleep. It's nearly midnight."

She smiled down at him then kissed him gently on the cheek, "goodnight, Jibun no kureiji koi*." *my crazy love*

He chuckled lightly, his chest rumbling underneath her head, "goodnight, Jibun musate saiai*." *my dearest muse*

The morning after their trip to Diagon Alley, Remus went out under a glamour and picked up a copy of the Daily Prophet. The headline read 'POTTERS FOUND ALIVE! PREWETT BROTHER'S ALSO FOUND! BLACK FOUND INNOCENT OF ALL CHARGES! MORE TO BE ANNOUCED LATER!'

Thanks to information recently discovered, Lily and James Potter were found in a prison located in Scotland, in the area of Sutherlands between the Thurso River and Loch Shin. This prison was underneath an unplottable Charm, the Prewett brothers, Fabian and Gideon were also found at the prison. Madam Bones, Head Auror Scrimgeour and two other Aurors along with retired Auror Alastor Moody otherwise commonly referred to as Mad-Eye Moody were present during the raid of the prison. All prisoners were port keyed to St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, after one hour to prove that they are indeed the people they said they were they were released. The Potter's have not reappeared nor have they been heard from, it is the belief of the Daily Prophet's staff that they will be disciplining their son for his lies.

Concerning the Sirius Black Scandal. 

It appears that Bartemius Crouch, former head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation during his tenure as Head of the DMLE forwent Sirius Black's right of a trial. If he had actually gone ahead and gave him the trail perhaps Sirius Black could have spent the last thirteen years raising his Godson in the proper manner befitting the Scion of the Potter Family. It was discovered this past summer that Sirius Black is not only innocent of being the Potter Family Secret Keeper but is also innocent of the Murder of Peter Timothy Pettigrew. Peter Pettigrew's Order of Merlin has been revoked due to the nature of it given and for what is was awarded for. More information to be released later!

When he got back to Jackal's Lair he dropped it in front of James, "looks like they finally announced that you and Lily were found." As he commented that he walked over to the kitchen and got out a glass of pumpkin juice.

James laughed but read the paper, as he got to the part of his child's lies he frowned, "Remus, what the hell do they mean by Kushina's lies?" As he asked that he looked up at Remus who was standing in the doorway of the kitchen. Lily who was sitting next to James also looked up at him frowning.

Remus sighed, "unfortunately, Minister Fudge refuses to believe that Voldemort is back. He has been forcing the Daily Prophet to write that Harry Potter is a pathological liar and an attention seeking brat." As he spoke James' eyes flashed in rage and he started to growl in anger.

"What? The Minister has been attacking my child via the Prophet? That's it he's dead!" As James spoke the trapdoor to the Training area popped open and Kushina poked her head up, upon seeing her Dad's expression she paled. She quickly ducked back down, deciding to train with her Zanpakuto some more. Thanatos and Anubis peeked through her eyes, when both caught a glimpse of her Dad they agreed to train some more.

"Yes," Remus replied while wincing.

James took a deep breath then slowly let it out, "okay, I was already mad at him for not getting my child out of the Triwizard Tournament but now I'm pissed."

Lily who had also got a very angry look on her face, visibly calmed herself and nodded, "I agree as Kushina's Godmother and Aunt, I'm pissed off! I think it is time that the Potter family sayings become known to the wizarding world once more."

Kisuke who had been listening in from the kitchen chimed in, "indeed I find this extremely insulting to my mate." He gave them a slightly sinister smile, "I'll gladly provide assistance with your endeavor to clear her name."

Lily glanced at James then at Remus, she then turned her gaze back to Kisuke, "I'm going to say that if you had gone to Hogwarts you would have been in Slytherin." She commented wryly.

He smiled at her cheerfully, "well that's what my darling muse often tells me."

Ichigo walked into the room at that comment, "she also calls you a few other things. Not all of them are polite for company." Ichigo quipped.

Remus glanced over at his daughter's Fiancé, "oh, and what else she call you?" He asked curiously.

"Well, for one my dear Papa, I call him 'my crazy love,' I also call him 'my mad scientist,' and finally I call him 'my silly fool.' I suppose that the mad scientist one could be taken the wrong way." Kushina commented from the trapdoor as she climbed up the ladder.

Both James and Remus blinked then smiled in amusement, "your mad scientist?" Remus asked his daughter.

She nodded and finished climbing up the ladder kneeling down to close the trapdoor. She had placed her long red hair in a braid then into a bun so her back was visible to her parents for the first time. To their shock she had a tattoo that covered most of her back, it was a pair of stylized wings, they were feathered and colored black, it was highlighted so well they could have sworn the wings were real. At her lower back was written in Latin, 'Dominae mortis' or Lady of Death. That raised a few eyebrows, and James asked in a forced calm voice, "Kushina, when did you get a tattoo?"

She blinked and looked over her shoulder, "ummm, it's not a tattoo, I've had that since I first managed to summon Anubis and Thanatos to the physical world." She explained while rising up to her feet with the help of Kisuke. "It's their way of claiming me as theirs for the world to see, the closer they are with me the more detailed my markings became. At first they weren't this detailed, they looked like fuzzy images that slowly came into focus."

James blinked in shock, "really?" he asked while Lily had raised her eyebrows in amazement.

Kisuke nodded, "yes we were all quite startled when we saw them the next morning. She has a third one but it is usually covered up." With that comment both of her fathers raised their eyebrows in clear demand to see said tattoo.

She rolled her eyes but complied to the unspoken demand, she reached down, unbuttoned her pants and slid the right side down her hip to show a stylized Jackal's head with an Ankh in its mouth and a Snake biting its tail surrounding the image. "This one is for Anubis, the one on my back represents Thanatos, while the writing at the base of my spine is for both." She commented in the silence after she revealed the symbol on her hip.

Ichigo snorted, "that's not so weird apparently all of Renji's Tattoos are actually marks from his zanpakuto, Zabimaru. I've shared a hot spring with him while training for my Bankai and let's just say they are pretty much full body art work."

Kushina raised her eyebrows and whistled, "wow! I've seen the ones on his chest and back but they go down that far?" She asked in amusement.

Ichigo nodded, while eating an apple, he then commented, "I need to head back soon, since I have to deliver those presents before I go back to school. Can I borrow the Senkaimon, Hat and Clogs?"

Kisuke looked up at his apprentice, "go right ahead Ichigo, I'll come along to open it for you. Do you have the Visored's response to the Gotei 13's request?" He asked while Ichigo gathered the presents he got for everyone.

"Yeah it's in the same bag as the presents. I decided to buy a bag that has an expansion charm on it. It's a good investment after all," He commented after gathering the last of the presents. "Let's go then." As he said that he jumped down the trapdoor.

After the two men used shunpo to reach the Urahara Shop, Ichigo commented, "I need to go home and tell Kon to look after my body until I get back."

Kisuke nodded, "alright I'll get Tessai and prepare to open the Senkaimon."

Ichigo ran home and explained to Kon just what will happen to him if he damages Ichigo's body or reputation. Kon quickly assures Ichigo that he will act exactly like Ichigo as much as possible.

Ichigo then ran back to the shop and dropped down the trapdoor, where he finds both Tessai and Kisuke waiting for him. "Since you've used the Senkaimon before Ichigo, I won't bother to explain how it works. But I suggest that you use your Bankai in order to out run the cleaner." Kisuke suggested.

Ichigo nodded, and quickly shifted Zangetsu into her Bankai state, he then cracked his neck. "Alright let's do this." After they opened the gate, Ichigo used Shunpo to race through the Dangai, unfortunately he did encounter the Dangai's Kototsu, _terrific I'm going to arrive several days ahead of time.'_ Was the only thought going through Ichigo's head as he burst out over the Junrinan District of West Rukongai. He flipped through the air and landed in a crouch in the middle of the street. At first all of the souls in the district hid in fright, but then a great deal of them recognized Ichigo from his last visit to their district and reassured the others that had come to the area after his last visit.

As they emerged from out of their houses many called out greetings to him as he made his way to the gate that Jidanbo guarded. Ichigo smiled up at the gigantic gatekeeper, who beamed back down at one of the few people who can withstand the blows from his axe. "What brings you back here, Ichigo?" He boomed.

Ichigo smiled slightly before answering, "just delivering a few things. I need to talk to Captain Hitsugaya and Head-Captain Yamamoto while I'm here. So can I go through?" He asked while cocking his head to the right.

Jidanbo merely stepped up to the gate and lifted it open for him, as Ichigo ran past the gatekeeper he yelled over his shoulder, "thanks Jidanbo!"

As he ran through the gate, Ichigo thought about where to go first. _'Hmm, I guess I should deliver Kenpachi's and Yachiru's gifts first. So I'll head to the eleventh division, then to the thirteenth to deliver Jushiro's gift, I'll give Rukia her gift while I'm there unless she's at home for the day. My next stop will be the Sixth division I suppose to deliver Byakuya and Renji's gifts, then I'll head to the Eighth Division to deliver Shunsui's gift to him. I'll give Toshiro's his last baring any unforeseen delays or if I can't locate someone.'_ As Ichigo thought that he raced through the streets of the Seireitei towards the Eleventh Division.

He finally slid to a stop in front of Kenpachi who was observing the training of some of his men, apparently he had taken Hermione's words to heart as he was having his men trained in the art of Kido. "Yo, Kenpachi!" He greeted the captain rather cheerfully, secure in the knowledge that Kenpachi wouldn't attack him since Kenpachi had found a much better sparring partner in his cousin, Kushina.

Kenpachi looked down at his old friends reincarnation, "Hello Ichigo. What brings you to my Division?" As he asked that Yachiru peeked over her Kenny's shoulder and waved at Ichigo cheerfully before running off to play with Maki-Maki.

Ichigo smirked up at the wild looking captain, "oh, just delivering a few things. So I guess you can consider this Mail Call." He said in a chirping tone of voice that would make most of his friends and classmates to a double take. Thankfully Kenpachi knew and recognized him from his previous life as Hisana Kuchiki or it would have freaked Kenpachi out, as it was it was freaking out Kenpachi's men. Both men were ignoring the screams that Yachiru was causing by playing with Maki-Maki.

"Really? Do you have anything for me then?" Kenpachi asked curiously.

Ichigo nodded while reaching into the bag at his side, "yeah, I got you a few things along with some for Yachiru. I'll leave you to decide when she gets her presents since it's mostly candy." With that he handed over a shrunken trunk full of books that he knew Kenpachi would read as well as a small wireless wizarding radio. He then handed a sack of candy over to him. "To make the trunk big, just place your hand over the symbol of your division and say 'expand.' Then to make it small enough to fit in a back just place your hand back over the symbol and state, 'collapse' it should shrink back down to this size." Ichigo explained while handing him the trunk.

Kenpachi snorted, "alright. Where are you off to?" He asked when he noticed Ichigo leaving.

"To the thirteenth division. I've got a few more packages to deliver, you were my first stop." Ichigo called back.

Kenpachi shrugged but then bellowed at his men who were slacking while he was talking to Ichigo. After he did that he walked off to his rooms to put away the trunk of books and the wireless radio, he placed the radio in Yachiru's bedroom.

###############################################

After he left the Eleventh division, Ichigo made his way to the Thirteenth, once he arrived there he noticed that Kiyone and Sentaro running around panicking. _'Huh, I guess that Shunsui has once again managed to convince Jushiro to play hooky. Oh well, better deliver Rukia's gift, I'll do Jushiro's and Shunsui's gifts later.'_ He thought with a sigh, he then grabbed a lower seated officer and asked, "Do you know if Rukia Kuchiki is in today?"

"Yes, she's currently in the training grounds." The helpful officer said while pointed toward them.

Ichigo started jogging to the training grounds and called back over his shoulder, "thanks!"

When he got there he saw Rukia practicing a Kata, after she finished it he clapped his hands and called out, "looking good there Rukia!"

She whirled around and upon seeing him blinked in shock, "Ichigo! What are you doing here?" She exclaimed.

"You know you're the third person to ask me that. I'm delivering a few presents from the living world, I went to visit Kushina a couple days ago and picked up a few things." He explained casually while digging through the bag at his side. He pulled out her gift which was inside a wooden chest made of walnut, and handed it to her. "Here," he said while giving it to her, "this is for you."

She blinked then sheathed Sode no Shirayuki which was in it's sealed form for the Kata and took the chest from Ichigo. He gestured her to open it, inside she found an assortment of drawing pencils, both colored and black, she also found paints and inks in a variety of colors. Inside was also a pad of drawing paper along with an instruction booklet on calligraphy, as she thumbed through the pad of paper, she found a portrait of her and Byakuya standing together. "Oh, my! This is beautiful. Did you draw this Ichigo?" she questioned while gently tracing the lines of the drawing.

Ichigo nodded, "yeah, I thought it might be a good idea for you to see how you two look together from someone else's point of view. The pad of paper is a never-ending pad, so you'll never run out of paper no matter how much you draw in it." He added, careful not to mention that all of the pencils had a charm on them that drew upon the users conscious to help draw the picture. Nor that with prolonged use will actually help the person become better at drawing. He also didn't mention the compulsion spell on them that encouraged the drawer to only use the pencils, at least until the other spell did it's work anyway. He knew very well that she would see it as an insult, she got that from Byakuya.

Rukia smiled down at the drawing, "thank you, Ichigo. I love it." After she placed the pad back into the chest she gave him a hug and whispered in his ear. "Thank you, Brother."

Ichigo gave her a soft smile, happy that she considered him family. "You're welcome, Rukia. I'm afraid I have a few more presents to deliver so I better get going." He cocked his head to the side, "do you know if Byakuya is in his office?" He asked her curiously.

Rukia blinked at the rather odd ball question but answered, "as far as I know he is. Why?"

Ichigo smiled at her while backing toward the exit, "oh, no real reason. It's just that your captain wasn't in his office so I didn't know if there was a meeting today." He said while shrugging.

She blinked then shrugged in response, "no, there isn't a meeting scheduled until tomorrow morning. Perhaps my captain is merely playing hooky, he does that sometimes if Captain Kyoraku can convince him that it's too nice of a day to waste by staying inside." She commented wryly, but inwardly happy that her captain decided to relax.

"That's what I figured but I thought it better to check with you first before assuming," Ichigo said over his shoulder while leaving for the Sixth division.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

He made his way once more through the streets to the Sixth division, finally arriving in the outer offices of the Captain and Vice-Captain, to his surprise he found only Renji in the office, he was doing paperwork. "Hey Renji! Doing paperwork I see." Ichigo commented while looking over his shoulder, Renji jumped in surprise, thankful that he had just put down his brush or he would have ruined his just finished report.

He spun around and grabbed Ichigo by the collar of his Shihakusho while growling, "damn it Ichigo. Don't do that to me!"

Ichigo grinned down at the growling red head, "what's the matter? Did ya think I was Byakuya for a minute there?" he asked belligerently.

"NO! Although I am starting to wonder where my captain is… He hasn't come in yet," Renji explained in a whisper so as to keep it from the rest of the division that the absence of it's Captain was unplanned.

Ichigo frowned, "he's not here? Dang, I was hoping to give him this in person." Ichigo commented while holding up a wrapped book, or at least it appeared to be a book to Renji, so he was pretty sure it was a book.

"A book? For my captain? What's it about?" Renji curiously asked.

Ichigo merely smiled as he let himself into Byakuya's office and placed the present in the center of the surface. He then riffled through the desk to find a sheet of paper and calmly wrote a note to Byakuya.

Hey Byakuya,

I came by your office to give you this but you weren't here, so I just put it on your desk. Enjoy, it'll probably explain a few things about the living world to you. I've already given Rukia her gift so you can show her what I got you.

Ichigo Regulus Kurosaki

Substitute Shinigami of Karakura Town

"Ichigo what are you doing?" Renji hissed, "that's the Captain's desk!"

Ichigo finished the letter with a flourish, "I know Renji, why do you think I'm writing this letter for. If I don't explain why I trespassed on his desk, he'll kill me." Ichigo commented as if he was talking about the weather and not about being murdered.

Renji gaped at his human friend in shock, "Ichigo, if anyone ever says that you're a coward. I'm going to use this as proof that you're not." He commented wryly.

Ichigo placed the letter on top of the book and stood up from his position kneeling at the desk. "Yeah, go right ahead but if someone ever says that in front of me they'll be getting a list of everything I've ever done." As he walked out of the room he tossed a sack onto Renji's desk, he had also shoved a box into his arms before moving to the doorway.

Renji looked down at the box in his arms and then at the sack on his desk, "what's this?" He called out to the substitute shinigami.

"Your present! I've already gave Rukia hers." Ichigo called back, "try not to eat them all at once or you'll get a sugar rush."

Renji raised a tattooed brow and looked inside the sack to see a ton of candy, he drooled and thought to himself, _'yes, snacks!'_

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

As he left Renji behind Ichigo snorted in amusement, thinking to himself _'well I guess I better take care of Toshiro then.'_

He made his way to the Tenth Division, after finding Masumoto and bribing her into completing her paperwork as well as her Captain's. Letting her know he would be talking to Toshiro to find out if she kept her part of the bargain before she got the goods. He then made his way to Toshiro's office and after knocking waited for permission to enter.

"Enter!" he heard Toshiro call out impatiently.

Ichigo slid the door open and after bowing, "Hitsugaya-Taicho, I request that you accompany me on a walk so that we might discuss a private matter."

Toshiro Hitsugaya blinked in shock, Ichigo Kurosaki had never called him by his title nor had he ever made a formal request. That was enough to make him set his brush down and acquiesce to Ichigo's request. "Very well, wait outside for me." Toshiro commanded.

After Ichigo nodded and left the room, Toshiro straightened up his paperwork then grabbed his Haori from the stand beside his desk. After that he placed his feet in his waraji and left the office, sighing over having to tackle the paperwork when he returned to the office. He found Ichigo leaning against a wall waiting for him just outside his office, he gestured for Ichigo to lead the way.

Ichigo led him to a little known area that was owned by Jushiro Ukitake that he allowed the public to use if they wished. As they sat down by the lake, Toshiro glanced over at the orange haired Shinigami. "What is it hat you wished to discuss, Kurosaki-San?" He asked curiously.

Ichigo leaned back onto his elbows, "well it involves a bit of my family's history. So be prepared for a long lecture," he said wryly.

Toshiro blinked in puzzlement, thinking to himself, _'what does his family history have to do with what he needs to talk to me about?'_

#####################################

Unknown to the two younger men, three men were already there when they had come by. Jushiro and Shunsui had managed to convince Byakuya to take the day off and relax. Jushiro was watching the two men with curiosity in his eyes, "I wonder what Ichigo has to discuss with Shiro-Chan." Shunsui said with amusement in his voice.

Byakuya snorted, "what does it matter what the Ryoka boy thinks. He shouldn't even be here." He commented snidely.

Shunsui slapped Byakuya on the back and said, "nonsense, Ichigo always has a reason to come to the Seireitei. So let's listen in," he said with a grin, Byakuya rolled his eyes at the older captains immaturity while Jushiro merely smiled fondly at his friend.

#####################################

As the three older Captains had their chat, Ichigo sighed and started to explain, "a woman by the name Isabella Lecanu committed line theft of the Noir family in 1846. Her and all of her descendants were cursed by the family to begin dreaming of their mates starting at the age of four and continuing until they either met their mate or the age of twenty. Whichever came first."

Toshiro blinked, unknowingly echoing the other three captains, but he voiced the one thing all four were wondering, "what does that have to do with you?"

Ichigo snorted, "I'm getting to that. Isabella gave birth to four children from her line theft, two sons and two daughters. She named her sons Sirius Osiris and Phineas Nigellus Black. While she named her daughters Isla and Elladora, Isla's name was later blasted off of the family tree for marrying below her class, she married a man by the name of Bob Hitchens.

Noir is French for Black, hence the new name, she let everyone believe that her children was born out of wedlock because the father died. Only the family was aware otherwise, out of the four siblings we'll be following Phineas family. Following me so far?" Ichigo asked.

Toshiro nodded, so Ichigo continued.

"Phineas married Ursula Flint and she bore him five children, four of whom were sons. Sirius who was named for his uncle, Phineas who was named after his father, he was later blasted off for going against later family values, their third son was named Cygnus and finally Arcturus. Their only daughter was named Belvina who was married to Herbert Burke, they had two sons and a daughter. Sirius married Hesper Gamp and had three children only one married. Phineas who never married, left his entire estate to his nephew Marius and his great nephew Sirius to be divided equally between them. Cygnus married Violetta Bulstrode and had four children, two daughters and two sons. Only one daughter remained unmarried, the other daughter married a man by the name of Charlus Potter and bore him a single son, they died together in 1977. The first son was named Pollux who married Irma Crabbe and had three children themselves. The family tree gets a bit complicated here. Still following?" Ichigo asked seeing as how Toshiro was becoming a bit dazed.

"Yeah I'm still following," Toshiro commented slowly.

Ichigo nodded and continued, "alright then, out of the three children of Sirius, only Arcturus married, his wife's name was Melania McMillan who bore him two children, a son and a daughter. The daughter's name was Lucretia who married Ignatius Prewett, they had no children. While the son was named Orion and he married Walburga. We'll now deviate and go to Pollux's children, he and his wife had three children, there was Cygnus who was named for his grandfather, he married a woman by the name of Druella Rosier, she bore him three daughters, Narcissa, Bellatrix and Andromeda. All three daughters married, Narcissa married Lucius Malfoy while Bellatrix married Rodolphus Lestrange. Andromeda was disowned when she married Theodore Tonks. Only Narcissa and Andromeda have a child, Narcissa gave birth to Draco Malfoy while Andromeda had a daughter named Nymphadora. Anyway back to the rest of Pollux's kids, his first born son's name was Alphard who was disowned for giving gold to his nephew Sirius who ran away from home. You remember who I said Orion married right?" Ichigo asked.

Toshiro raised an eyebrow but nodded.

"Good 'cause this is where the family tree gets weird. The only daughter of Pollux Black and his wife was named Walburga who married her second cousin Orion." As he said that Toshiro boggled at him. "Yeah that's kind of disgusting isn't it?"

"I'll say but you still haven't explained what this has to do with your family." Toshiro asked curious despite himself.

Ichigo laughed, "right, I better get to that. Pollux's brother Marius was a squib, it means that he had no access to magic and thus would have been killed had it not been for his uncle Phineas who helped him escape to America. Marius joined the Marines and when he was stationed to Japan during the second world war, he met a young woman and fell in love. He asked her family for her hand and was allowed so long as he took a new name as well as become a citizen of Japan. He did as they asked, taking a name that honored his old family name and acknowledged his former career. He took the name Kurosaki, or Black Cape."

At that Toshiro gaped at him, all three of the hidden captains also gaped in shock. "Okay I know see what the little history lesson on the Black family had to do with you. So why else did you explain?" Toshiro asked while staring at Ichigo.

Ichigo laid back on the grass and stared at the sky, "Marius and his wife had a single daughter by the name of Masaki Kurosaki, unlike the rest of the Black family Marius never took the dream suppressant potion. You see once a Black starts dreaming of their soul mate no other will do for them so most Blacks took the potion religiously. Only a few didn't, my grandfather was one of the few who chose not to take it. That's why he fell in love with my grandmother, my mother also never took the potion so she knew Dad long before she ever met him. She bore Dad, me and my sisters, I started my dreams when I was five and same for both of my sisters."

Toshiro furrowed is brow and asked, "what does that have to do with me?"

Ichigo sat up and looked at the lake, "my cousin, Kushina was living my family when she had her first dream. Dad knew her soul mate and dragged him over to visit as well as give him the history of the Black family. It's become a bit of a tradition to tell the soul mate of a family member about said history." Ichigo explained nonchalantly. He then held up a drawing pad, "this belongs to my sister Karin, she started drawing in it five years ago. When her dreams started," he then handed it to Toshiro.

Toshiro opened the book after Ichigo gestured for him to do so, as he looked at the first drawing, he was surprised to see himself. He looked to be the same age as he was now, but he was in the living world. He flicked through the rest of the book and saw snippets of time, himself growing older and taller. "I'm the only one in here." He stated while looking over at Ichigo.

"Yeah, the first time I met you I was a bit surprised but it seems to be the fate of the Kurosaki family to have our soul mates be Shinigami." Ichigo said sadly.

"What do you mean?" Toshiro asked.

Ichigo turned to look at him, "Yazu's soul mate is also a shinigami, only her soul mate is a Lieutenant."

Toshiro noticed that Ichigo didn't mention his, "what about you? Who is your soul mate?" He asked intently.

Ichigo snorted, "only a few know, so I don't think I'll be telling you anytime soon. If it makes you feel better I plan to court them in the tradition of my ancestors. It probably won't be how they are used to being courted but it should be fun." Ichigo said with a smile.

"So the descendants of the Black family dream of their mates. That's interesting," Toshiro commented.

Ichigo snorted, "it's more than that. If a soul whose memories have not been erased is reincarnated as a Black they will remember that life. Sirius Black, first born son of Walburga and Orion is one such soul, so was their second son Regulus. Regulus died in 1979," Ichigo explained a bit.

"Really? Maybe I should try to find him in the Rukongai." Toshiro remarked.

"You wouldn't have to go quite that far to find him," Ichigo said while smirking. He glanced over at the white haired captain who was staring at him expectantly. "What?"

Toshiro glared at him, "well, where is he?" he demanded.

Ichigo sighed, "right here." He said while pointing at himself.

All four captains gape in shock, Toshiro swallowed, "you are Regulus Black as well as Ichigo Kurosaki?" He asked dazed.

Ichigo nodded, "Yeah it was kind of weird to be my own second cousin. But it was also kind of fun, of course I remember my life in the Seireitei as well as my life as Regulus Arcturus Black. It's kind of weird, seeing everyone I knew and only having a few of them recognize my mannerisms and habits from that life." He commented wryly, "its hard to believe that I was married to my soul mate so long ago…"

Toshiro frowned, "really? Who are the ones that recognize you?" he asked curious despite himself.

Ichigo snorted but started listing them off on his fingers, "Urahara, Yoruichi, Kenpachi and Yachiru. Sometime I think Ukitake-Taicho and Kyoraku-Taicho recognize me but then something happens and I realize they don't. Of course looking somewhat like Kaien Shiba does probably throw them off of who I really was." He commented with a bemused expression.

Toshiro blinked, "you're not? Then who were you?" he demanded.

Ichigo stood up, "not telling. Those who knew me should be able to figure it out, but you never met me in your entire life. I died long before you made captain," with that remark Ichigo started to walk off. He paused and reached into the bag at his hip, "oh yeah. Before I forget, this is for you." He tossed the small sack to Toshiro who caught it and opened it, revealing a medium bag of Jelly beans and a small sack of hard square candy.

Before Toshiro could start complaining, Ichigo interrupted, "just eat one." Toshiro shrugged but popped a jelly bean in his mouth, to his surprise it tasted just like watermelon. Ichigo looked at him fondly, "I overheard a comment made by Masumoto to Ukitake-Taicho that you like watermelons. I figured you can eat those when you want a taste of them but they aren't available."

Toshiro drew the bags close to his chest, "thank you…Ichigo."

Ichigo smirked, "welcome to the family Toshiro." With that he waved goodbye. "I've got to go find Kyoraku-Taicho and Ukitake-Taicho to give them their presents, I already dropped Byakuya's off at his office since he wasn't in." He commented while walking away.

"Try at Ugendo, sometimes they are in the garden there." Toshiro calls after the retreating Substitute who merely waved his acknowledgement.

#####################################

Byakuya blinked in shock at the overload of information, he was poked in the shoulder by Shunsui, "I think you better go unwrap your present." He commented. Byakuya blinked up at his fellow captain, but nodded and used shunpo to get to his office.

Once he left the other two captains used it to reach Ugendo's garden and lazed about waiting for Ichigo to show up. Which he did in a few moment after they arrived, "hello Ichigo." Shunsui greeted casually, "what brings you here?"

Ichigo smiled down at his old friends, though he didn't know they overheard his and Toshiro's conversation. "Present delivery!" He smirked.

"Present delivery? And who exactly is having you deliver presents for them?" Jushiro asked curiously. Wondering who it was that Ichigo used to be and trying to figure it out from his mannerisms, it finally dawned on him when Ichigo accepted the tea that Jushiro handed him. _'Dear god! Byakuya is in for a shock when he finds out!'_ The sudden thought went through Jushiro's head.

Ichigo reached into the bag and pulled out a pair of large flat boxes and handed them to Jushiro. Jushiro blinked down at the boxes, but opened the top one to find a large assortment of chocolates. He set it down and opened the other to find a large selection of Cadbury's chocolates. "They come in more varieties then Milk chocolate!" He exclaimed in shock.

Ichigo laughed, "yeah, they do. The other box is full of wizarding chocolate, and if you eat all of one of the types of chocolate an order is placed with the store and they will refill it. The other is linked to a piece of paper and another box, if you run out of a particular type of chocolate I'll fill the order." Ichigo commented. He then turned to Shunsui and handed him a chest.

Shunsui opened the chest to see bottles inside. He picked up one of the bottles and read aloud, "Ogden's old Firewhiskey, what a strange name." He commented, he then picked up the smaller bottle, "Butterbeer. What is this I wonder…"

Ichigo decided to explain, "Butterbeer is not that alcoholic but it's very tasty, I even picked up six for Captain Ukitake." With that he handed a small case to Jushiro who blinked down at the six bottles. Ichigo continued, "Firewhiskey is very potent, and unlike Ukitake-Taicho's boxes yours won't refill itself as soon as it's empty, your box will wait at least three weeks before refilling itself."

Shunsui pouted but nodded his understanding. "Thank you for the present Ichigo." He commented while setting the Firewhiskey back into the box but keeping the Butterbeer out to drink.

Jushiro looked up from his bar of chocolate, smiled at him cheerfully and after checking to make sure that the three were the only ones around said, "indeed. Thank you…Hisana."

Ichigo's eyes widened in shock, while Shunsui gaped at his oldest friend but after several moments of thought said, "dang, how did I not see it. He does enjoy teasing Byakuya as much as Hisana-Chan did."

Ichigo stared at them, "how did you figure it out?" he asked with his eyes still wide in shock.

Jushiro laughed and handed Ichigo a small piece of chocolate. "Very easily, no matter how many years its been you still take your tea the same, you still act the same and you still tease Byakuya the same."

Ichigo blinked in shock, shrugged then pouted, "why hasn't Byakuya noticed then?" He whined in frustration.

Both captains shrugged then Shunsui commented, "maybe he's so busy mourning you that he's not bothering to look and actually see you."

Ichigo frowned then said something that made both men laugh, "my husband is an idiot without me by his side." After making that statement Ichigo flopped backwards onto the grass staring up at the sky.

#####################################

Meanwhile at the Sixth Division, Byakuya walked past Renji's desk where all of his paperwork was completed and ready to be filed. He walked into his office and saw the package lying on his desk, his raised his eyebrow at the audacity of Ichigo Kurosaki. As he approached the desk he noticed a note on top of the package, he read the letter thinking to himself, '_his writing seems familiar to me but I've never seen anything he's written before.'_ He shrugged off the vague familiarity that the handwriting stirred up in him and opened the book which had been wrapped using the traditional furoshiki methods.

He carefully un-tucked the six corners and undid the square knot, then carefully unfolded the two clothes away from the gift. It was a book titled, 'Wizarding Nobility through the Ages: A self updating Wizarding Genealogy.' There was a note just inside the cover of the book, it read:

Dear Byakuya,

Since you're always going on about how you are the head of one of the four noble houses of the Seireitei I thought I'd give you this. I just thought you might be interested in it.

Ichigo Regulus Kurosaki

Scion of The House of Kurosaki

Lord of the House of Noir

Byakuya blinked in shock, he hadn't realized that the Ryoka boy was paying that much attention to him. But he sat down and started to read the book, curious as to what the book was about and how many noble families there were in the living world.

#####################################

After leaving Jushiro and Shunsui with their gifts Ichigo made his way to the head captains office. He was shown in by the lieutenant of the first division and sat down in front of Head-Captain Yamamoto. "Ichigo Kurosaki, you have news for me?" He asked calmly in his deep voice.

Ichigo nodded and placed the letter from the Visoreds on the desk sliding it toward the Head-Captain. "I don't know what they wrote in there, as it's been sealed ever since they gave it to me." He commented quietly.

"Hmmm, please come see me before you leave, Kurosaki-san. I will have a letter for you to take back to them. I believe the negotiations will continue for a while," the Head-Captain commented just as quietly.

Ichigo nodded and stood up, "of course. I've already been offered the Thirteenth Divisions barracks." He commented.

He paused before leaving, "oh, yeah. I picked up this for you while I was visiting a relative of mine." Ichigo handed the wrapped package to the Head-Captain and another to the lieutenant. "Enjoy them," he called over his shoulder as he walked out.

As he walked away he contemplated aloud, "hmm, maybe I'll go to the training grounds of squad Eleven and train a bit there. Ikkaku might feel like a spar…"

##########################################################

After training until dark with the Eleventh Division Ichigo made his way to the barrack of squad Thirteen. However halfway there he was knocked unconscious by Captain Kurotsuchi, who grinned maliciously down at the unconscious Substitute Shinigami, "I've been rather curious as to how you are put together my dear boy. And now I will get the chance to find out. Plus I can finally try that experiment I've been wanting to do concerning research about birth by women with high spiritual pressure." He commented aloud, cackling in sadistic glee.

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	12. Chapter 11: Of Love and Inner Demons

Chapter Eleven: Of Love and Inner Demons

The next morning at the Captains meeting, only the captains of seven divisions showed up. Captain Soi-Fon of the Second Division, Captain Retsu Unohana of the Fourth Division, Captain Byakuya Kuchiki of the Sixth. As well as Captain Kyoraku of the Eighth, Captain Jushiro Ukitake of Squad Thirteen and funnily enough Captain Kenpachi Zaraki actually showed up.

While the meeting was being held, Zangetsu had escaped the Twelfth division and made her way to Rukia. Rukia didn't recognize her at first but heard Sode no Shirayuki gasp, _'ZANGETSU! What happened to her?'_ Her zanpakuto was almost hysterical in worry over Ichigo's zanpakuto's condition. Rukia noticed that Zangetsu was transparent as if only half way there. Rukia kneeled in front of the stricken zanpakuto and asked, "what's wrong? Where is Ichigo?"

Zangetsu looked up at her and rasped, "he's in the twelfth division. Captain Kurotsuchi grabbed us last night when we were heading to the barrack of your division. He separated me from Ichigo, then Ichigo's hollow broke out to protect us, but he was captured as well. Please…Rukia help me." Zangetsu pleaded with her.

Rukia's eyes widened in shock but she nodded, "don't worry I will. But how will I find you?" She asked desperately since Zangetsu was fast loosing color.

"Sode no Shirayuki will find me if you don't find our hollow first, I think he's currently ranting about how if they touch his king he'll tear them apart for such trespass." Zangetsu managed to joke before disappearing completely.

Rukia stood up and looked both of the third seated officers in the eye, "you heard her. Go to all of the divisions and tell them we have reason to believe that Ichigo Kurosaki was kidnapped by the Captain of the Twelfth division last night. Have them meet me, Kyoraku-Taicho and Ukitake-Taicho in front of the Twelfth Division."

Both Kiyone and Sentaro nodded with fierce looks on their faces, they liked Ichigo, even if he didn't resemble Kaien they would have liked him for the simple fact he had defended Rukia from everyone, even her own brother. He had gained Bankai in only three days just to protect her.

Rukia raced to the Captains meeting room and shoved the guards out of the way, as she burst in she yelled, "ICHIGO'S IN DANGER! CAPTAIN! ICHIGO NEEDS HELP, PLEASE COME WITH ME!" Not even paying attention to the rest of the captains she grabbed her captain and Captain Kyoraku by their Haori's and started dragging them out of the meeting room.

Head-Captain Yamamoto watched bemused until his brain registered what he had heard. "Officer Kuchiki! What do you mean by that comment?"

She paused and, while looking over her shoulder at from him, answered, "Ichigo's zanpakuto spirit manifested in front of me begging for aid. Apparently Captain Kurotsuchi decided to kidnap him on his way to the Thirteenth division barracks last night." She glanced over her shoulder, "I don't know how much time Ichigo has since Zangetsu looked in pretty bad condition."

The Head-Captain frowned, "that is not good. Captain Unohana prepare your division for an emergency. Captain Soi-Fon gather your men and accompany Officer Kuchiki to the Twelfth Division. All other divisions may accompany them if they wish. Arrest Captain Kurotsuchi when you find him, I will not stand for him to experiment on our allies!" He roared the last sentence, "I will lift Kisuke Urahara's banishment before I allow him to continue being Captain!"

The captains present saluted and followed Rukia out the doors. Captain Soi-Fon then sent a hell butterfly to her units to let them know to get to the Twelfth division. Jushiro looked down at Rukia and asked, "so…How are we going to find Ichigo?"

Rukia was running alongside her captain and replied, "Sode no Shirayuki has a bond with Zangetsu. So I should be able to find Zangetsu, although according her it shouldn't be too hard for us to find them." Everyone listening in thought that Rukia was referring to her own Zanpakuto when she said 'she' never dreaming that Rukia meant Zangetsu.

Once they reached the Twelfth Division the captains were surprised to find most of their divisions waiting. Jushiro placed his hand on Rukia's shoulder and said, "since you're the one who can find Zangetsu, you're in charge."

Rukia nodded and stepped forward. "Captains and Vice-Captains, you will be dealing with Captain Kurotsuchi and his seated officers. All other officers will deal with the rest of the Research and development department as well as the unseated officers of the Twelfth division. I will be finding Zangetsu who will be able to lead us to Ichigo." With that she turned to the doors and used her Zanpakuto to freeze them then shattered them with a well placed kick.

As they stormed the building, they could hear someone shouting, "IF YOU LAY ONE HAND ON MY KING, I WILL TEAR YOU TO SHREADS! I WILL FEED YOUR SOULS TO A MENOS GRANDE! I WILL MAKE YOU WISH FOR DEATH BY THE TIME I'M THROUGH WITH YOU!" Rukia recognized the voice of Ichigo's hollow but was worried what it meant since it rarely emerged except when Ichigo called it out or if Ichigo was in grave danger. All the captains winced at the thought of someone actually feeding another persons soul to a Menos Grande. Byakuya frowned, he recognized the voice, he had heard it only once before, when he was fighting Ichigo Kurosaki on the Sokyoku hilltop.

Rukia then diverted from her current path to that of the sound of the hollows voice, she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he could lead her straight to Ichigo. Many of the lower ranking officers started to shiver due to the malice contained within the shouted words. Renji shouted over to her, "is that who I think it is?" When she merely nodded, "shit! That's not good." He cursed but continued to run toward the voice.

To the surprise of almost everyone, when they reached the voice it belonged to someone who looked like Ichigo except that he had snow white skin that had the barest tinge of color to it. His eyes were gold irises on black sclera and his hair was longer than Ichigo's was cut, he was snarling in rage until he saw Rukia, once he saw her, he beamed in happiness. "Thank the King you showed up. I take it Zangetsu managed to get out and contacted you?" He asked while Rukia froze his manacles and broke him out of them.

She nodded sharply, then asked, "can you find Ichigo?" She gripped his shoulders to steady him slightly until he got his bearings.

He grinned maliciously down at her, "hell yes. I can most certainly find my King, just follow me," he said wickedly, his smile was so malicious that many of the unseated officers shivered with fright and even a few of the seated officers stepped back. The seated officers that stepped backward were gaping at Rukia for standing so close to him and not even flinching at the malice that the smile contained.

Rukia snorted but nodded in agreement, "lead the way, Luna del Corte." With that she gestured for him to move ahead.

He led them down the corridors of the building and as they followed him they could hear screams echoing down the halls. Rukia winced, as since she was next to the hollow she could tell that the screams belonged to Ichigo even if they seemed a bit higher pitched than usual. The only reason she could tell was she heard a low continuous growl coming from the hollow's throat.

They finally reached a room where they could see a person with orange hair strapped down to a table and Captain Kurotsuchi was pressing buttons on a keyboard clearly taking notes. The hollow growled quietly, then turned to Captain Soi-Fon, "can I assume you want to arrest him," he asked quietly so as not to alert the people in the room.

She raised her eyebrow at him but nodded sharply, "yes that was the Head-Captains order to us. Why?"

He sneered in disgust at the scene in front of him, apparently they were giving his King a chance to catch his breath. He answered the short woman, "simple that mean's he's the only one I can't kill for touching my king." He gave a sharp toothed grin at the stunned captains, "but I can most certainly rough him up to the point of unconsciousness," he commented happily. With that he slammed the doors open and was on the other side of the room before they could blink and started gleefully slamming Captain Kurotsuchi's head against the wall.

They shrugged and announced to the room at large, "Captain Kurotsuchi you are hereby relieved of your duties and are being arrested under the Head-Captains orders. If you resist we will make no move to help you with Kurosaki's hollow." Captain Soi-Fon tagged on the last bit gleefully, she never liked the scientist anyway.

The hollow let him go after he had knocked the mad man unconscious, he then carelessly dropped the man to the floor and demanded that the mans subordinates let his king go. When all they did was stare at him shaking in fright he threw his hands up in frustration, "fine! I'll do it myself."

With that he walked over to the machine and cheerfully charged a Cero, he then fired it point blank at the machine completely frying its inner workings. The manacles holding Ichigo down let go and his hollow scooped him up off of the machine. He then handed his King to Captain Kyoraku. He told the man, "guard my king with your life. Now get my King to the Fourth division, I'm going to find Zangetsu."

With that he sped off again with most of the unseated officers following them and with two of the Captains in tow. One of the unseated officers asked another, "why are we following a hollow, anyway?"

His fellow officers shrugged but before any of them could answer, Renji commented over his shoulder, "because he's Ichigo's hollow. As such he'll be able to find Zangetsu a whole lot easier than Rukia ever could. Plus would you want to be the one to tell him he can't?" Both unseated officers blanched at the thought. Renji grinned, "I didn't think so." Rukia snickered quietly.

The hollow finally slid to a stop in front of a cell where they could see both the sword form of Zangetsu as well as the manifested form who was hanging from chains. Zangetsu's eyes fluttered open and landed upon the hollow outside the cell door. "Hello, my dear hollow," she rasped out. He smiled tightly at her, before he reached up, grabbed the cell door and ripped it right off it's hinges. He then dashed into the cell, picked up her sword form, placed it on his back, broke the manacles holding her to the wall and scooped her up.

He then turned to Rukia and said, "we need to get Zangetsu to Ichigo. Now!" She nodded and led him out of the building. He was escorted all the way to the Fourth division, Byakuya was waiting inside Ichigo's room. According to Captain Unohana, the only thing that would fix Ichigo would be time, time and rest. As the hollow stalked past him, he was careful to stay away from him physically, but Byakuya noticed he had no such reluctance to touch with anyone else, since he easily shoved Sentaro out of the way.

The hollow placed Zangetsu manifested form next to Ichigo and crawled in beside them, on the side nearest to the door. The hollow then placed her sword form next to the bed leaning it against the wall, Byakuya frowned, he knew that the very presence of the manifested forms was taking a lot out of Ichigo. He said, "you can return to his inner world you know. I promise on my honor as a Kuchiki that no harm will come to your master here."

To his surprise, the hollow and Zangetsu opened their eyes, and asked in unison while glaring at him, "what is that promise supposed to mean to us? You have already proven that your promises are not to be trusted."

He was surprised not only by the words but also by the look in their eyes, he had often seen a hint of it in Ichigo's eyes. Especially when he was near Rukia, now he knew what it was…distrust…quiet but there, Ichigo Kurosaki did not trust him at all. That thought did not sit well with him for some strange reason.

In his mind he heard Senbonzakura comment, _**'well what have you done to prove he can trust you? You nearly broke your promise to Hisana, a promise you made to her on her death bed. If she had found out about you nearly allowing Rukia to be killed or that you would have killed her yourself. She would have never trusted any of the promises you had ever made to her.'**_His Zanpakuto pointed out bluntly, he mentally winced at the thought of Hisana no longer putting any trust in his word.

Then to his shock Jushiro, Shunsui and Kenpachi moved forward, and Kenpachi stated, "if you will not believe him. Will you believe us? That we will not allow any harm to come to Ichigo?" Kenpachi's voice was quiet and deep, he was staring both in the eye without looking away from them.

Much to everyone's shock the hollow stared deep into his eyes and nodded, "very well, Kenpachi Zaraki. I'll trust your word and you had better keep my King safe." As he spoke that last sentence he pointed a black tipped finger at him. After he said that he disappeared into thin air leaving a mask behind to show that he had once laid on the bed.

Zangetsu looked up at the three men and said, "I trust your word but I must first have the word of yet another." With that she got up from the bed and approached Byakuya. She reached for Senbonzakura and demanded, "show yourself Senbonzakura!" To everyone's surprise, even the Head-Captains, the spirit of Byakuya's Zanpakuto appeared kneeling before Zangetsu in a subservient position.

"Yes, Lady Zangetsu. What boon do you wish of me?" The masked figured asked quietly while staring at the floor.

"I want your word, Senbonzakura. That your wielder will not cause deliberate harm to mine!" She demanded, her demand caused Byakuya's eyes to widen. Ichigo's Zanpakuto believed that he was capable of deliberately harming her wielder outside of battle. But why would she believe that he wondered, except for the instance in the living world and the two instances in the Seireitei he had not harmed her wielder. And both times he did was in battle.

He could feel his Zanpakuto's shock as well, but his Zanpakuto replied, "I give thee my word. If my wielder goes to harm yours deliberately, be it physically, emotionally or mentally. I will refuse to acknowledge him as mine from that day forth, unless your wielder forgives his transgression." His oath caused quite a few eyes to widen and mouths to drop open in shock.

Zangetsu nodded decisively, "then I leave my wielder in your capable hands, Captain Unohana." With that she disappeared into the sword.

None of the other three captains seemed all that surprised by Zangetsu's demand of Senbonzakura and to his complete shock neither his vice-captain nor Rukia seemed surprised either. Rukia mentally winced, _'I didn't realize that Zangetsu and Luna del Corte distrusted Byakuya-Nisama that much. I guess that they still distrust him and can't believe that Byakuya-Nisama doesn't recognize Ichigo as Hisana's reincarnation. So they honestly believe that brother would raise his hand to his wife and harm her. Even if every memory that Ichigo has says he wouldn't… I think that sub-consciously, even he questions it.'_ Rukia thought sadly while staring down at Ichigo.

She sighed and not realizing that Byakuya was listening in, "get better soon, Ichigo-Nisan. I don't like it when you and Byakuya-Nisama fight," as she spoke she brushed Ichigo's hair away from his eyes. Byakuya blinked in shock, _'she thinks of Ichigo as an older brother?'_ For some reason this thought relieved him although he didn't know why it had nor did he question it.

As the others left she took out the pad of paper from the chest next to her and selected a fine black pencil to draw the outlines. She then started to sketch an outline of Ichigo's face, to her surprise his hair was starting to darken to a deeper color. Over the next three hours she noticed that Ichigo's appearance changed drastically. He had lost at least five inches in height, while his hair had turned pitch black and when Rukia checked on his eyes using a technique she had seen his father using his eyes were still a deep chocolate brown. Captain Unohana had come in the room when she had done that and asked her, "what are you doing Rukia?"

Rukia looked over her shoulder at the gentle captain, "checking on his eye color. His hair color has changed and he's lost some of his height."

Captain Unohana then asked her, "where did you learn to do that?"

Rukia blinked in puzzlement before she answered, "in the living world a doctor or healer will sometimes have to check on an unconscious person to see if they have a concussion. One way of doing so is to check the reaction of the pupils." She then commented, "I watched Ichigo's father perform it several times during my stay in the living world." She then looked over at the thoughtful captain, she nodded at the logic of it and left the two alone.

However, the most shocking change came in the early morning hours and was not discovered until Ichigo woke up an hour after the change finished. Byakuya had only returned about thirty minutes before Ichigo woke up, he had brought breakfast for Rukia with him. Within a few minutes after she finished her breakfast Ichigo stirred in the bed, "hmmm, what the heck did I get hit by?" Ichigo's voice was sleep roughened so neither had noticed the change at first until Ichigo had rolled out of bed and shook his head to try and clear it of fuzziness.

Rukia gaped at her reincarnated sister in shock, only now Ichigo really did resemble his past self, well at least he did except for the eyes. Byakuya's expression was actually the same as his adopted sisters, he was gaping in a manner completely unbefitting a noble. While both Shunsui and Jushiro raised their eyebrow in shock, they had come up just as Ichigo rolled out of bed. As they watched Ichigo rubbed at his eyes with his right hand and paused suddenly with a puzzled expression on his face. Ichigo then looked down at his chest holding his Shihakusho away from his chest as he did so. His eye muscles ticked in anger and he bellowed in a much higher pitch then usual, "MAYURI KUROTSUCHI I AM GOING TO MURDER YOU! AND I'LL DO IT GLEEFULLY!"

Deep within a cell awaiting judgment, the Former Captain winced while thinking aloud, "oh dear, I do believe someone has just made a death threat to me."

As Ichigo calmed down from his bellow, he was standing on the bed, chest heaving in anger. The few people who weren't in the room showed up and gaped at the side view Ichigo was now giving them. For you see, the concoction that Kurotsuchi injected him with had turned him into a female. So Ichigo now had a far different side view than normal. Much to Masumoto's shock Ichigo was unconsciously moving with a woman's understanding of her body. So either Kurotsuchi took that into account or this is not the first time Ichigo had a chest.

The minds of the watching shinigami boggled at the thought, then Byakuya remembered what Ichigo said to Captain Hitsugaya, _'__Yeah it was kind of weird to be my own second cousin. But it was also kind of fun, of course I remembered my life in the Seireitei as well as my life as Regulus Arcturus Black. It's kind of weird seeing everyone I knew and only having a few of them recognize my mannerisms and habits from that life.__' _Byakuya was gaping at the now female Ichigo for a completely different reason, as he stared at her he noticed a few of the very things he had been missing for fifty years.

As he thought about it, he remembered, and in his recent memories of Ichigo, he replaced Ichigo with Hisana and finally realized what his Zanpakuto already knew. _'Ichigo Kurosaki was once my wife Hisana Kuchiki. It's no wonder neither his hollow and Zanpakuto do not trust me with him. I must have severely damaged his ability to trust me…'_ He then paled, '_what if I'm not Hisana's soul mate? What if my wife will now belong to another?'_

As Byakuya thought that he looked up and into Ichigo's eyes, who had seen how stricken Byakuya looked, Ichigo blinked in puzzlement before questioning his inner hollow and Zanpakuto. _**'Uhh, do you guys know why Byakuya is looking at me like he was just told that not only did his puppy die but he was the one that killed it?'**_

'_**Sure, Zangetsu just made it plain that she did not trust him with your safety.'**_ His hollow commented in a blasé tone of voice.

'_**We merely expressed that we did not believe his word since he has proven that he could disregard promises made before by himself.'**_ Zangetsu explained calmly.

Ichigo mentally groaned, _'__**terrific that means it'll take twice as long to convince him to try again.**__'_

'_**Not really, my King. If he realizes who you are now then he'll work to prove himself worthy of your trust once more.'**_ His hollow gently pointed out.

##########################################

While Ichigo was conversing with his Zanpakuto and Hollow, Byakuya was speaking with his Zanpakuto, who had commented at his troubled silent questions with, _**'you're forgetting what Ichigo told Captain Hitsugaya.'**_

'_**And what is that, Senbonzakura?'**_ Byakuya asked unsteadily.

The masked samurai laughed quietly, '_**he said and I'm quoting him here, **__"its hard to believe that I was married to my soul mate so long ago…"__** there can be only one explanation for that comment. That you are Hisana's soul mate, it's no wonder that neither of them truly trust you anymore…' **_

At that comment Byakuya calmed down and made himself a vow, he swore that never again would he raise a hand to Ichigo. He swore to prove himself worthy of his love once more, of course that meant learning more about the living world. He started to pay attention to the room again with new resolve in time to hear Ichigo snort.

###########################################

Ichigo snorted and shook his head before muttering aloud, "damn hollow, always so full of himself. Not to mention that he refuses to be seen in anything resembling a positive way."

Rukia raised her eyebrow at him, or rather her, "what do you mean by that, Ichigo?"

Ichigo glanced over at her then sighed, "simple my hollow is now ranting about how he needs to make everyone who harmed me pay drastically for doing so. The damn thing has been rather overprotective of me ever since I forced it to submit to my will." He gave a weary sigh at that, unknown to most it was greatly exaggerated.

That comment made all those who had been present at the sentencing of the Visoreds one hundred years before raise an eyebrow. Captain Unohana asked, "what do you mean forced your hollow to submit?" She was taking Ichigo's vitals down during the question.

Ichigo looked at her then glanced at the other people who were hovering curiously at the doorway, "well…I guess I should start by how I got a hollow in the first place…Right?"

As his question Captain Unohana smiled at him cheerfully, "that would be rather nice to know."

Ichigo gave her a nervous smile, "well after Byakuya came to get Rukia for her sentencing. I was without my powers that Rukia had lent me, Byakuya had destroyed that ability, and I would have become completely unable to be a shinigami if it weren't for the fact the at the very moment he struck Zangetsu hid in the back of my soul. She managed to evade the strike by doing that." As Ichigo was explaining how he still had Zangetsu despite Byakuya's attack it cleared up a few things to the Shinigami listening in about why Byakuya was shocked at seeing Ichigo show up in the Seireitei.

Ichigo continued on, "you see I was born with these powers, Rukia merely woke them up. The first task I was given after I healed was to regain my Reiatsu, Urahara-San had me do that by evading attacks. I managed that so the next task was after Tessai severed my Chain of Fate." At that everyone gasped, to sever someone chain of fate was a bad thing for a living person. Technically Ichigo was dead and his body was merely a Gigai.

Rukia stared at Ichigo and wondered how she could have gained such loyalty from him. Was it merely because she was once Ichigo's sister or was it because Ichigo cared for her as a friend. Ichigo noticed the pensive look on her face and reached over, grabbed her then dragged Rukia into his lap. He murmured in her ear, "I love you Rukia. As both Hisana and Ichigo, I adore and think the world of you. I loved you as Hisana because you were my sister, I love you as Ichigo because I think of you as a sister. Due to your innocence in the living world, I tend to think of you as my little sister. Never doubt that I care for you!" He then said in a louder voice as he stared down into her wide violet eyes, "understand?"

Rukia nodded and tucked her head under his chin, "yes. I understand Ichigo."

Ichigo smiled slightly then continued, "after my Chain of Fate was severed I was dropped into a deep pit. I was given a choice become a hollow or become a Shinigami to save myself. I ended up staying in the hole for more than seventy hours, when the hollow hole started forming my masked formed before my body had even started disintegrating. Zangetsu pulled me into my inner world and demanded that I find my power. I ended up using something that Uryu taught me." At that he laughed and Rukia looked up at him curious as to what was so funny.

He caught her look and explained, "Uryu likes to think he knows more then me. So he is always lecturing me on things but the most important thing he ended up telling me is that the Reiraku of a Shinigami is always red. So to find my power all I had to do was look for the red thread out of all the white ones." At that he chuckled over the simplicity of the search while the rest of the shinigami gaped, they would have never thought to do that at all.

Ichigo went on, "When I did that, I ended up being outside of the pit. I had my hollow mask on at the time, you see by becoming a shinigami I avoided becoming a hollow. However my hollow was forming when I became a Shinigami so it was still there." Ichigo looked at Unohana to make sure she was still following.

Captain Unohana blinked in shock that anyone would be willing to go through that just to gain the powers of a Shinigami. She realized that for Rukia, Ichigo would have done anything. And Byakuya remembered what Hisana was willing to do to find Rukia, she would search through all the months except for winter. She had even searched when she was so ill she would collapse from exhaustion, he should have seen it before but he didn't know what Ichigo went through just to regain his powers.

"As for what I meant by making my hollow submit is simple. My cousin Kushina pointed out to me that my hollow was as much a part of my soul as my Zanpakuto. I had the thought that if it was indeed like my Zanpakuto I could use it like Zangetsu. So I went into my inner world and made a proposal to my Inner hollow. If I could beat it, it would have to submit to my will and listen to me." Ichigo explained while holding Rukia in his arms, then much to everyone's surprise Ichigo's hollow appeared behind him. It was back to back with him.

The hollow took over the explanation. "On the other hand if I won then I would get control of our body for a week…" He glanced toward Unohana, "I thought it was a fair deal if I lost I only had to listen to him but if I won I got our body for a week." Rukia looked up at him in disbelief, she couldn't believe Ichigo could've been so careless. But the next words out of the hollows mouth had her shut up.

He frowned, "of course I forgot how determined my King could be when protecting his friends so of course he won. King had sat me down and explained what he wanted to do, in return for not taking over his body or fighting his decisions. He said he would find a way to manifest me, like Zangetsu could be manifested. Unlike the Visoreds hollows I wouldn't be suppressed and ignored, instead my advice would be listened to." At that comment he smirked smugly.

Ichigo snorted at that comment, "of course I listen to you. You live for fighting, not to mention you tend to notice an opponents weaknesses before I do." Ichigo smirks and added, "that comes in handy."

The hollow tilted his head back and laughed, "why thank you my King."

Masumoto raised her hand, "I have a question."

The hollow turned it gaze to her and said, "what's the question?"

She poked her forefingers together, "I was only wondering…Why do you call Ichigo your King?"

Ichigo glanced over his shoulder, "truth be told I've been wondering that myself."

To everyone's shock the hollow actually blushed, "well to be honest…its because he's is the ruler of our inner world. Without him me and Zangetsu wouldn't exist, so he is the King of our inner world, even if both of us would prefer a little more greenery and less concrete." With that comment he glared lightly at his self assigned king.

Ichigo laughed, "I'm working on it. Geez, I'll get around to putting in some parks or something, I just need Kushina to tell me how to do that." After Ichigo rolled his eyes at his hollows actions, he looked up at Captain Unohana and said, "speaking of my cousin. Any idea how long this effect is going to last?"

She shook her head, "I'm afraid we have no idea since Captain Kurotsuchi is refusing to talk and Vice-Captain Kurotsuchi is currently unconscious. She apparently refused to stand aside and watch he experimented on you, so he forcibly shut her up." Ichigo snarled in anger.

Renji leaned into the room and asked, "why don't you just ask Kisuke Urahara how to access the system? He founded the department didn't he?"

The Captains in the room and hallway looked startled at the suggestion, then in unison they dragged their palms down their faces. "Why didn't we think to ask him Jushiro?" Shunsui asked of his oldest friend.

The white haired captain sighed, "I don't know why I didn't think of it myself." He then turned to the Head-Captain, "may I request permission to retrieve Kisuke Urahara and bring him back to the Seireitei?"

Yamamoto glanced at the young woman sitting on the bed with her hollow, "permission granted and tell him that I wish to speak with him about certain matters." As he turned away he added, "you may use the Senkaimon under his shop to return."

Jushiro bowed, "as you wish sensei!" He then turned to Ichigo, "don't worry, I'm sure that Kisuke can either find out the solution or make one himself."

Ichigo nodded, and waved goodbye as Jushiro raced out of the fourth division toward his personal Senkaimon. Retsu Unohana finished her scan of Ichigo and stated, "well, there is nothing physically wrong with you save that you are a different gender. Whatever it was that caused this was apparently only supposed to change that, I don't know why your appearance changed this much." She frowned at that.

Byakuya stepped forward, "so there is no medical reason to keep, Kurosaki-San here, correct?" He glanced from Ichigo to Captain Unohana in askance.

She nodded, "I see no reason he cannot stay elsewhere. However I do want him to come here every other day for me to do a check up." She stated calmly.

Rukia glanced up at Byakuya, "why did you ask that Byakuya-Nisama?"

Byakuya ignored her question, he then turned to Ichigo and his hollow, "Ichigo Kurosaki, I wish to extend an invitation for you to use the Kuchiki estate during your stay here in the Seireitei." As he spoke he gave Ichigo a bow. He added, "you have my word that I will not allow anyone to speak against you during your stay at my manor. If you do not wish to stay, you may still visit Rukia while she is at the manor."

Ichigo blinked in shock over the invitation, while the hollow gaped at him in astonishment, Rukia however just smiled at her brother happily. Ichigo managed to recover his voice, "I accept your invitation, Byakuya Kuchiki, head of the Kuchiki house." Ichigo gave a small bow back to him while speaking.

Byakuya nodded, "very well. I will escort you to the manor after my duties are done." With that he turned and rapidly left the division while thinking to himself, _'I'll re-earn your trust Ichigo…Hisana. I realize that it will take a while for you to be able to put your trust in me again, so I will do my best to make sure that you never have a reason to doubt me again. That is something I swear on my own honor and not that of my families.' _As he thought that his face took on a determined expression and all those who saw him wondered what Captain Kuchiki was thinking about.

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Meanwhile in the living world, Jushiro was explaining the situation to Kisuke and Ichigo's friends who had been beginning to get worried about him. Orihime frowned, "oh dear. That's not good, will it affect his ability to get back into his body?" She questioned worriedly.

Jushiro blinked in shock, "I hadn't even thought about that! Kisuke, do you know if it would affect that?" He asked the former captain anxiously.

Kisuke was looking down in thought, "I honestly don't know. I never did this kind of experiment at all. This is Mayuri's work, through and through. I'll have to inform my Fiancée about her cousins current situation and let her know that it will be a while before she can see him. Unless the Seireitei will allow her to come for a brief visit?" He asked Jushiro.

"I don't see why they wouldn't so long as she returns to the living world soon afterward. Why?" Jushiro questioned him.

Kisuke gave him a wry smile, "because Kushina and Ichigo are very close. Almost like twins actually, they were born only a year and sixteen days apart. Ichigo was born on July 15th 1979 while Kushina was born on July 31st of 1980." When he explained that the school kids blinked in shock, they hadn't known that.

To Jushiro's shock, the trapdoor opened and several people he didn't think he would ever see again appeared out of it. The Visoreds looked at Kisuke, and Kensei spoke up, "so the Brat's in trouble, huh?"

Kisuke nodded, "it appears Mayuri was up to his old tricks again. I never should have released him from the Maggots Nest but I had no choice, despite his ethics he was a brilliant scientist." Hiyori nodded, that fact was true even if he did freak her out.

Shinji rubbed his chin, "so now what? I assume that you will be sending Yoruichi to retrieve Kushina."

Kisuke nodded, "yes, she wasn't called the 'Flash Goddess' for nothing."

Yoruichi nodded, and leapt down the trap door. Five minutes later she reappeared with a red haired girl at her side. She quickly hugged all of the Visored then turned to Kisuke, "what is it? Yoruichi wouldn't tell me why you need me to come here." She questioned curiously.

Kisuke quickly explained the situation to her and she frowned in thought. "Well, number one, I'm visiting Ichigo. Number two: who wants to go to the Seireitei and discuss a treaty?" She glanced at the Visoreds at her last question.

Kensei raised his hand, so did Lisa, Love, Rose, Shinji and Hiyori. When they sent questioning looks at Hiyori, "What? I used to be Vice-Captain of the Twelfth division they might need me to help. Beside if you think I'm letting this idiot out of my sight you are crazy!" She said while pointing at Shinji who pouted at being called an idiot.

Shinji pointed at Kensei and said, "What about him! He's more likely to cause an incident because he can't take a joke!"

"HEY!" Kensei hollered at Shinji before he lunged at Shinji to pound his face into the ground.

Thankfully Kushina got between them and pushed them apart then grabbed them both by the hand, "let's get going already!"

Kisuke nodded and turned to Hachi, "could I get you to help Tessai open the Senkaimon?" He asked.

Hachi nodded, "yes, of course."

Lisa hugged Mashiro and said, "we'll be back as soon as possible."

Mashiro nodded, then said after giving Lisa a kiss, "take care of Kensei for me."

With that all of them drop down into the training area, Tessai and Hachi opened the Senkaimon. Jushiro led the way with Kisuke following behind with Kushina at his right. Just behind them was Shinji and Hiyori. While behind them was Love and Rose with Kensei bringing up the rear. They burst out of the tunnel above the Rukongai and managed to drop carefully down.

Jushiro led them over to the west gate and greeted Jidanbo, "hello Jidanbo!"

The gate keeper blinked down at the motley crew that was standing behind the white haired captain. "Hello, Captain Ukitake! Who are these people?" He asked curiously.

Jushiro smiled, "they are my guests. I will take full responsibility of their behavior while they are in the Seireitei. The Head-Captain requested Kisuke Urahara's presence for a search of the R & D department."

Jidanbo blinked in puzzlement but shrugged and lifted the gate, as they walked by Kushina smiled up at the large gate keeper who reminded her of Hagrid for some reason. "Thank you Jidanbo!" She called over her shoulder, while holding Kisuke's hand.

Kensei glanced up at the large gate keeper before nodding his thanks to him. After they were let in Jidanbo let the gate down and they paused for a moment. Kushina handed some cloaks that she pulled out of a bottomless bag to the Visoreds, "here, this is so if you don't want your identity revealed you can keep it a secret. Once the hood is up only you can take it down." She advised absentmindedly.

"Thank you Kushina-Chan." Hiyori said while putting on the cloak and pulled up the hood.

The rest of the Visoreds also put on the cloaks and pulled up the hoods, Jushiro then led Kisuke and the Visoreds to the Head-Captains office. Kushina was led to the fourth division by Kiyone and Sentaro to see her cousin.

As Kiyone and Sentaro raced back to their division, Kushina was led to Ichigo's room by Isane. "Here you are. Please do not disturb the other patients." Isane requested quietly.

Kushina smiled at her and said, "I won't. I will warn you that I might assault the idiot who hurt my cousin if he's in here though."

Isane gave her a bright smile, "don't worry he's not. I believe he is being held for sentencing by the Second Division." With that Isane went back to her duties.

Kushina gazed after her thinking, _'hmmm, I do believe that was Percy's future wife! How cute!'_

She then shook her head and opened the door into a most amusing scene for her. Ichigo was sitting on the bed, sketching in his drawing pad while Rukia was wrestling Renji for a pencil. She started laughing quietly but her chuckles grew in volume until she was rolling on the floor laughing. Byakuya heard laughter coming from Ichigo's room as he walked down the hall, Shunsui had joined him and when they got there they both noticed a crimson haired young woman rolling around laughing. Both Rukia and Renji were staring at the laughing woman in shock.

Ichigo had looked up from the picture he was drawing and saw his cousin laughing at the wrestling duo. Seeing nothing wrong with the picture, as he knew that if he was in his cousins position he would be doing the same thing. He wasn't even surprised that she was in the Seireitei, since Zangetsu told him the moment that Anubis and Thanatos had appeared in the Rukongai.

"Hello Kyoraku-Taicho, Byakuya! What brings you here," Ichigo asked while carefully shading the drawing slightly.

Shunsui chuckled but helped the red haired woman up from the floor, "hello there, Ichigo." He smiled at Ichigo then turned his gaze to the young lady, "and who are you, my dear?"

She giggled then said while patting him on the cheek, "you must be Shunsui Kyoraku. Nice to meet you, I'm Kushina Ruri Potter-Lupin."

Shunsui blinked in shock at being recognized, "yes I am. So Kushina is your name… what a very pretty thing to call a very pretty woman." He beamed at her.

She waggled her index finger at him, "ah, ah, ah. Don't let my Fiancée hear you say that, he's a very possessive man." She chirped happily with her golden eyes twinkling in delight and mischief.

Ichigo rolled his eyes and said, "as if you would ever stray from him just from pretty words alone. You've been in love with him since you were six for heaven's sake." As he spoke he closed the pad carefully and put it into the bag at the bedside table.

She snorted, "like you're one to talk, cousin dear. You've been in love with someone since you were five," she retorted hotly. "Or should I say ever since your first life with them." She said slyly while walking over and bopping Ichigo on the head. Byakuya inwardly gaped in shock at that comment.

"Owww, what was that for, Kushina?" Ichigo asked while rubbing his head.

She glared down at him, "that was for not paying attention to your surroundings. Did you not pay attention during my lessons when 'Sei-sensei taught me about tactics! We got worried about you when Jushiro-san told us about what Mayuri had done to you! Idiotic Snake!"

Ichigo glowered up at her for a moment before his mind caught up with her last sentence. "What do you mean by 'we'?" he asked suspiciously.

She blinked down at him in mock innocence, "oh, didn't I tell you. All of the Visoreds came except for two, only 'Shiro-ane and 'Chi-ani stayed behind, the rest of them are here. I think the monkey is helping my silly fool, I don't know what the rest of them are up to though. Why?"

"Because I think I need to talk with your Fiancé, Kushina-Chan." Ichigo said while sitting back up from where her bop had made him fall back. Just then a hell butterfly came in and landed on the bedside table. **'**_**All Captains, Vice-Captains, please report to the meeting room, I repeat All Captains and Vice-Captains please report to the meeting room. Ichigo Kurosaki please come to the meeting room, if a Captain or Vice-Captain is near Kurosaki please escort him to the meeting room.'**_

With that the hell butterfly took off, Ichigo looked at Renji, Byakuya and Shunsui, "looks like you three get to escort me to the meeting room!" He chirped.

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Kushina went along with the group to the meeting room, Captain Soi-Fon looked at her with an eyebrow raised and asked, "who are you?"

Kushina didn't answer, she merely smiled at her smugly before she walked over to Kisuke who was standing across from her favorite sparring partner Kenpachi. She cheerfully waved at him, he snorted and nodded in greeting to her. The Head-Captain frowned slightly but excused her presence knowing that eventually she too would be a Shinigami after she died. Once everyone was in their usual positions, with the Vice-Captains on one knee behind and to the left of their captain. The only Vice-Captains out of position was Izuru Kira and Shuhei Hisagi, since they were currently acting as the Captains of their Divisions they were standing in the Captains place.

The Head-Captain started the meeting with a simple announcement, "for the past few months I have been in contact with a group of former Captains and Vice-Captains known as the Visoreds. I recently asked that several rejoin the Gotei 13 as the captains of Divisions Three, Five and Nine, and another of the group has agreed to hold the position of Vice-Captain of Division Five until Vice-Captain Hinamori has recovered from her ordeal. Yet another has agreed to stay as co-Vice-Captain of Division Twelve, until Vice-Captain Kurotsuchi has completely recovered from her injuries and feels ready to return to her position. The other two Captains have agreed to keep the current Vice-Captains so long as the Vice-Captains do not mind obeying their orders." At that announcement Shuhei's eyes widened along with Izuru's, they had been worried that any new Captain would request a new Vice-Captain and demote them.

While both were breathing sighs of relief, Kushina smirked at Ichigo who was standing behind Jushiro, she already knew which ones were planning to stay. Shinji, she felt was probably taking Division Three, while Love and Rose would more then likely take Division Five. Kensei of course would take back his old division, while Hiyori would be assisting Kisuke with Twelve.

She glanced at the door that had just opened to see if she was correct, she smirked seeing all of them still wearing the cloaks. The other's in the room also looked toward the door to see, as they walked in the Head-Captain introduced them. "The temporary Captain of the Third Division, Shinji Hirako. Shinji, your Vice-Captain, Izuru Kira." With that he introduced the two blond men to one another.

When Izuru bowed to his new captain, Shinji snorted, "don't bow to me. I'm just a captain not a god!" Shinji joked. Izuru blinked up at his temporary captain in shock.

Jushiro looked over at Shunsui who was looking at the scene amused, then the Head-Captain introduced the new captain and Vice-Captain of the Fifth. "I have no idea which one of the two is the new captain as both of them are former Captains, so I will simply give you both of their names. Rojuro Otoribashi and Love Aikiwa." With their introduction they took down their hoods.

"While Hiyori Sarugaki will temporaily retake her former position as Vice-Captain to the Twelfth Division." The Head-Captain gestured to the shortest figure among the five people. "The new Captain of the Ninth Division will be…"

Before the Head-Captain could introduce him Kensei took off his hood, and Shuhei's eyes widened again in shock. "Captain Murguruma…" he gasped in shock.

Kensei shot a look at the person who said his name before he was introduced and was shocked to meet a pair of gray eyes he hadn't seen in a hundred years. Izuru and Renji shared a look before turning to their friend in shock, he knew one of the new Captains. Kensei walked over to him, reached up with his right hand and traced the blue tattoo before finally dropping to trace the 69 tattoo with his thumb. "Is this for me?" he asked quietly. That question made everyone blink in shock, especially when Shuhei nodded while leaning his cheek further into the caress.

Kensei snorted, "kind of funny, isn't it. Permanently marking your skin for a man who you thought was dead." He chided his new Vice-Captain.

Shuhei blushed lightly but stared into Kensei's brown eyes defiantly, "you saved my life. If the only way anyone remembered you was by looking at my face then yes."

Kensei raised his pierced eyebrow, "oh, so that's why you got the tattoo. Or did you already have it by the time you joined the academy?"

Before Shuhei could answer Izuru remarked, "oh, he's had that tattoo for as long as I remember. He had it before he joined the academy!" Izuru chirped. Shuhei glared at his old friend.

Kensei snorted, but stepped back from him. He then turned to the Head-Captain, "are we going to tell them why me and the others are called the Visoreds?" He asked casually while giving Shuhei a sidelong glance.

The Head-Captain looked amused at Kensei's actions and remarked, "I'll leave that decision up to you." Shuhei stepped back along with Izuru and took their old places behind their new Captains. The Head-Captain then turned to Kisuke and asked, "do you have any results from the data files at the R&D department.

Kisuke nodded and stepped forward, "yes, Head-Captain. I was able to locate the files concerning the experiment that Mayuri was running. He apparently developed a serum that changed a man into a woman to allow the higher ranked male officers to be impregnated. The serum would allow the man turned woman to be impregnated merely by absorbing the Reiatsu from a trusted source. He was curious as to what level a child's Reiatsu would be if it's mother was of Captain level. Thankfully, you retrieved Ichigo before Mayuri could impregnate him." He commented wryly.

Ichigo blinked in shock before exclaiming, "he was going to get me pregnant?!" At Kisuke's confirming nod, he asked, "BY WHOM?"

Kisuke chuckled, "apparently by Byakuya Kuchiki since the two of you have fought before when you were both in Bankai. He was hoping that your Reiatsu would recognize Byakuya's as an allies and let it in. I don't know if he would have succeeded but, I'm afraid that until the serum wears off you are not going to be able to reenter your body." Kisuke delivered the news with a wince knowing perfectly well just what Ichigo's reaction was going to be.

"WHAT? WHY THE HELL NOT?" Ichigo bellowed at the cowering blond.

Kushina snorted, "isn't it easy to understand, Ichigo?" The red haired woman smirked at her cousin, while unfolding her arms from across her chest.

Ichigo turned to his cousin, "what do you mean by that Kushina?" He asked suspiciously.

Everyone's eyes turned to the red haired woman who stepped up to Ichigo, she placed her hand on his shoulder. "He obviously made it to where it has a set time for it to wear off. Probably around eleven months as that would give time for conception and for recovery from delivery. Am I right?" As she asked that she turned to Kisuke who nodded.

He smiled at her wryly, "correct as always, my dear muse." He said while tipping his hat at her, she smiled back sardonically, then turned back to her cousin.

Ichigo frowned, "that still doesn't explain why I can't reenter my body." He commented with a frown.

She sighed, "because Ichigo, what do you think would happen if you get around people who have a high amount of Reiatsu who you trust implicitly," she questioned lightly.

Ichigo paled, "I could end up pregnant…"

Retsu Unohana winced lightly, "I'm afraid that it might already be too late…"

Kisuke blinked in shock, "what do you mean Retsu-Chan?"

She sighed, "I thought it was a mistake on my scan and dismissed it. Due to how rare it is for someone to become pregnant and since Ichigo has not had intercourse I thought it a glitch. But if Mayuri made it possible to become pregnant just from Reiatsu then it is possible." She then bowed to Ichigo, "may I have permission to scan you once more to be sure, Kurosaki-San?" She asked gently.

Ichigo swayed in shock, "sure, why not." He answered vaguely.

She preformed the scan and sighed, "it appears that my earlier scan was correct. Ichigo Kurosaki is pregnant."

Byakuya stepped forward, "do we know who the father is?" He questioned while gently holding Ichigo who was swaying in shock.

"Yes, the other Reiatsu is one I know. Congratulations Byakuya Kuchiki, you are going to be a father." Retsu Unohana told him gently.

Byakuya blinked then gently handed Ichigo over to his Vice-Captain and promptly fainted. Ichigo raised an eyebrow at the fallen noble, scowling in displeasure and poked him in the side with his toes. "Wake up Byakuya. If I have to be awake you cannot fall into blissful unconsciousness." He growled down at the father of his unborn child. "Renji let go of me, I'm pregnant not an invalid!"

Renji set his human friend down, then promptly joined his captain on the floor.

Ichigo looked down scowling at the two men, then snorted as he did so he heard a low growl. He glanced over to see his cousin baring her teeth in a snarl, "Kushina…what's wrong?" He asked worriedly.

His cousin ignored his question and glanced at Kenpachi, she then turned away from her position at Kisuke's side and stalked toward the door. "Care for a spar Captain Zaraki?" She called over her shoulder.

Kenpachi grinned viciously, "with you? Always!" He raced after her while he called that, Yachiru clinging to his shoulder.

The Captains of Divisions: Two, Four, Seven, Eight, Ten, and Thirteen gaped at Ichigo and the new Captains. "Aren't you worried about your cousin, Ichigo?" asked Jushiro concerned.

As Byakuya had woken up just before Jushiro spoke, he gaped at Ichigo's reply. "No, she's sparred with him before and came to a draw. So why would I be worried," Ichigo asked nonchalantly. He then smirked, "matter of fact I want to watch." With that he walked out toward the Eleventh's training ground.

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	13. Chapter 12: Of Sane Insanity

Chapter Twelve: Of Sane Insanity

By the time they had arrived, Kenpachi and Kushina were already trading blows. Kushina had just ducked a swipe from Kenpachi when they got there. The members of the Eleventh were cheering on their Captain, while Lisa was cheering on Kushina, Shinji, Hiyori, Love and Rose quickly joined her in her cheering.

Shunsui smiled at his old Vice-Captain while Nanao blinked in shock at seeing her old friend. Jushiro was puzzled at how they were cheering for the young woman who seemed to actually be holding her own against the man known as the Demon from Zaraki.

She was wielding a wicked looking curved sword, both stopped for a moment, she gave Kenpachi a grin and said, "well, that was a nice warm up. Think you can handle me stepping up a notch?" She asked wickedly.

Kenpachi laughed, "hell yes. Go right ahead. I'll take that on anytime!" He said before taking off his eye patch and grinning at her.

She flipped the blade up in the air and as it fell she cried out, "return from whence you came, Anubis." With a flash of light the sword disappeared and an embossed Jackal appeared on the bracer of her right arm.

She then slid her feet apart to shoulder width and put her hands together palm to palm, she then interlaced the fingers of both hands. Kensei leaned forward in anticipation saying, "this should be good." Shinji snorted but nodded in agreement, indeed all of the Visoreds seemed eager to watch this match.

"As they have sown so let us reap, bow to me and submit. My dark ones!" She said with a wicked smile, and with a large explosion of power she disappeared from sight. As the dust cleared they could see her silhouette, as the dust cleared more they could see two metal bars resting on her shoulders. The bars had chains attached to them leading from both ends of the bars, the bars were connected to one another by a single chain. While a chain connected each of the bars to a short handled scythe that she was holding in either hand, the chain connecting the two bars was resting against the base of her spine.

They then realized that a second pair of bars were resting against her forearms. Of course what made them gape even more was the pitch-black feathered wings that arched from her back. The chain didn't seem to be hindering the movements of the huge wings at all. Those who had glanced at her back knew that she had a tattoo of a pair of feathered wings there. Of those who had seen the tattoo and had a current view of her back noticed the disappearance of said tattoo.

She smirked at Kenpachi, "you do well in close quarters combat, but how well can you do against a long range opponent?" She asked in an offhand tone while pointing one of the scythes at him.

Kensei laughed lowly, "it's always fun to spar with her when she uses them in conjunction with each other." Shuhei was gaping, her weapons looked more suited to reaping life then his own.

Shuhei then glanced at Kensei wondering what he meant by that but before he could ask he overheard Ichigo retort, "that's only 'cause you like fighting long range opponents." Kensei snorted but nodded in clear agreement.

Kenpachi had lunged forward to strike at her, but she had not only ducked but sent one of the blades flying through the air. Kenpachi just barely dodged the strike, but he continued to charge thinking that she wouldn't relinquish her only weapon by throwing it. And he was right, she didn't throw the other scythe instead she tugged the chain connected to the thrown one. It jerked back towards her at incredible speeds, Kenpachi barely noticed it coming in time and dodged to the side allowing it to fly headlong toward its master.

Many of those watching gasped thinking they would end up seeing her harmed by her own Zanpakuto, since she wasn't even making an attempt to dodge. The blade was flying straight at her neck, however with a simple tug of the chain she had the blade flip over in midair and caught it by the handle easily. She smirked, "I may not have landed a hit on you. But I did get you to dodge," she pointed out gleefully.

Thus began a dance of sorts, Kenpachi would begin a charge but in the end would have to dodge an attack from either forward or from the back. Kenpachi was being run into the ground but he was still grinning in delight, very few had ever been able to go toe to toe with him for a long time now. But this little slip of a girl was holding her own against him and had yet to even receive a scratch while her blades had nicked him many times already. He was bleeding from a cut on his face, both shoulders and he also had a shallow slice on his right hip. He hadn't been quick enough to dodge a few of her attacks since with a few tugs she was able to change the direction of the blade easily.

"I give…You win this one. But I will have a rematch later." As Kenpachi said that he pointed a finger at her and grinned.

She snorted and with a tug on the lower bars brought both scythes back to her. "Fine by me, Kenpachi. I'm always up for a spar with a good opponent. You fight as well as Kensei-Nisan!" She complemented him.

They heard clapping from the side, when they both looked over they saw the Visoreds clapping, Kensei stepped forward. "You still look a little tense, how about a spar with me?" He asked while unsheathing Tachikaze.

"With you, Kensei-Nisan? I'm always up for a spar!" She said bouncing in place slightly. She watched as he changed places with Kenpachi who let Yachiru jump onto his belled head.

Kensei grinned at her, he then held up his Zanpakuto, "Blow them away, Tachikaze!"

His sword transformed into a combat knife, and as the crowd watched he spun it on his right index finger. And so the dance started again, only this time when her opponent dodged he sent blades of wind spinning at her. She managed to dodge most of his attacks but some made it through anyway. By the time the spar ended in a draw both were injured slightly, Kushina had a cut on her left cheek and blood was dripping down her right arm from a cut on her bicep. While Kensei had a shallow slice from his left shoulder blade down to his right hip on his back, he also had a small cut over his right eyebrow. The fight had only ended because Kushina had one of her blades at his throat and another at his femoral artery. His blade however was tip forward at her heart, she merely grinned up at him before stepping back drawing her blades away.

"Thanks for the spar, Kensei-Nisan!" She chirped, the watchers were gaping in shock. As about three minutes before the battle ended, Kensei had drawn forth his Hollow mask, so it was still on his face. He snorted but cracked his neck and put Tachikaze away before taking off his mask.

"You're welcome, Kushina." He said while he crushed the mask to shatter it.

She sighed, "I guess I should be heading back to the Living World. I do have school to get to in only three days." She pointed out gently

Kensei snorted, "right. We'll see you later…" The Visoreds gathered around her and one by one all of them gave her a hug.

Kisuke smiled gently down at her and said, "I'll be there see you off and at Christmas, my dear. James told me that he would let you come spend three days with me during the Christmas holidays." She grinned in delight, then walked over to her cousin, Byakuya, Shuhei and Renji.

"Take care of yourself Ichigo. Shuhei…Do me a favor and make sure Kensei takes care of himself, he has a tendency to get lost in something and forget to do that. Renji, try to make sure that Kisuke doesn't start doing crazy experiments. As for you Byakuya, if you don't take very good care of Ichigo I will come here and carve out your intestines with a rusty spoon." As she spoke with each person she used a different tone of voice, with Ichigo she used a slightly mothering tone, with Shuhei she used a wry tone. While with Renji she merely smiled and looked a bit bemused. But with Byakuya's threat she stared into his eyes and used a chirping cheerful tone that belied her statement. The tone she used was as if she just asked someone what type of tea they would like not as if she just uttered a death threat. That tone plus her words caused most of the people around her to gape in shock.

With the orders given she walked toward Kisuke, gave him a light kiss on the lips and said while smirking, "I hate to kiss and dash but alas I must go." With that she summoned Thanatos' Shikai and ripped open a Senkaimon without any trouble. Just before she opened the Senkaimon she commented, "you know you could make Ichigo a device like my bracelet. That would allow him to show up in soul form at least even if he can no longer return to his gigai."

Kisuke nodded, "alright Kushina-Chan I'll get to work on one right away." He chirped as he watched her rip open the portal.

Everyone except the Visoreds, Ichigo and Kisuke gaped, "how did she do that?!" Soi-Fon screamed while pointing at where the dimensional rip used to be.

Ichigo shrugged, "how the heck should I know? It's probably something to do with one of her Zanpakuto." With that Ichigo walked off toward the Sixth Divisions with Byakuya who was still slightly stunned from being threatened by a mere slip of a girl.

The Order had called a meeting that was being held in Jackal's Lair, Lily was seated at one of the corners of the enlarged table. She had Severus to her left and Alice to her right. Severus shared his chair with Sirius who was perched on the left arm of it, beside them was Remus who was actually seated in James lap. It would seem that after reuniting James was reluctant to let his werewolf go.

Beside them was Hermione who was looking amused at the actions of the parents of her only female best friend. To her left was her only male best friend and all but brother Ronald Weasley. Seated by Ron were his two maternal Uncles, Fabian and Gideon, his only sister Ginny was seated in their Uncle Gideon's lap. At Gideon's left side was his little sister Molly, by her sat her husband Arthur.

Bill was seated in-between his father and Kingsley Shacklebolt. To his left was Tonks and by Tonks was Mad-Eye Moody, who was seated next to Albus Dumbledore. To Albus' left was his second at both school and the Order, Minerva McGonagall. Minerva was seated at one of the table corners same as Bill, Kingsley, Ron, Hermione and Lily. Beside Minerva was Fred and seated beside Fred was his twin George they sat across from their twin Uncles for whom they were named.

Seated on the other side of Lily was one of her best friends Alice Longbottom who had only been released from the hospital with her husband Frank eleven days before. Alice and Frank bracketed their only son, Neville. Frank was seated next to Fred Weasley and was currently whispering advice about pranks into his ear with a smirk on his face.

Neville had a slightly disbelieving look in his eyes, even after almost a month of having his parents back with him he still was slightly disbelieving. Especially since the first thing his parents had done after being released was to yell at his relatives who had raised him.

Frank and Alice had woken from their healing sleep about two days after entering it. During the two weeks that the healers kept them in the hospital they had questioned their son about school, his homework for the summer and what happened during his childhood. When they found out about how his uncle kept trying to surprise Neville into doing accidental magic Alice got very angry as it was well known that her family were late bloomers. Alice had bellowed at all of the Longbottom's for their treatment of her only, and as such, precious child. Neville had gaped at his mother in shock while Frank merely stood back and let his wife have at it.

Once she finished, he stepped forward and told them that if they came near his son he would show them just what Moody had trained him to do. He had stared at his mother coldly then stated that his son was not his clone nor should she have treated him as such, as he turned away he said he was glad his father was dead because his father would have been very disappointed in her.

With that remark his mother had looked as if he had just slapped her. Frank had turned and walked away from her, Alice had already steered their son away from the family and walked out the door by the time that he was half way to it.

Frank then took his wife and son to Gringotts to withdraw some money to buy Neville a new wand since he had been using Frank's for the past four years. Neville suggested going to a friends house since it would be the last place their family would look for them. When they had arrived at the house, Frank and Alice were surprised to see Remus seated in the kitchen with a young boy who looked just like James. They were even more surprised when Neville greeted the boy, "hey, Streak. How have you been?"

"I'm fine, how about yourself?" the boy asked.

Neville laughed softly, "I got by parents back. I'm better than fine." With that Neville hugged the boy and said, "thanks for sending that healer with Auror Shacklebolt, Harry."

Harry grinned and hugged Neville back, "what can I say, I decided to give you a belated birthday present." Harry jokingly said. Remus smirked and shook his head in amusement.

Remus looked up at the gaping couple, "hello Frank, Alice. Good to see you two." He commented while Sirius and Severus came up behind them.

Sirius scooped up Alice and tickled her sides, as she screamed in shock and then from laughter. Frank looked as Sirius was tormenting his wife, "hello Sirius. Good to see you." He commented with amusement, Neville was merely bemused with watching his mother being tickled by a supposed mass murderer. He figured that if Harry wasn't panicking then he wasn't going to, then again Harry never panicked even right before facing a nesting mother dragon.

Neville shook himself out of his reverie and started paying attention to the meeting. "I do hope that Ichigo is alright." He heard Hermione state worriedly.

Ron nodded and said, "yeah Yoruichi did seem to be in a hurry."

Shortly after that comment they heard the thump from the trap door opening Bill looked over at the trap door to see Kushina climbing up the ladder. Bill smiled and said, "welcome back Kushina. Was your cousin alright?"

Kushina snorted, "if you consider having been changed into a girl and being pregnant alright. Then yeah, he's terrific." At that casual comment the Order gaped in shock.

Hermione raised her eyebrows in astonishment. "Dare I ask who the father is?"

Kushina closed the trapdoor and walked over to her parents, leaning against the backs of their chairs, "luckily the father is his soul mate. Sorry for having to leave the meeting Headmaster."

"Quite alright my dear." Albus chuckled before clapping his hands together and said, "let's get back to the meeting."

As the Oder nodded in agreement, Albus looked up at Kushina and said, "Kushina could you tell me how many Horcruxes are left?"

She nodded, "Ichigo and I destroyed all but two. The last ones that have yet to be destroyed are Nagini, Voldemort's snake and a cup that is in the Lestrange Vault. There is no way to get to either one at the moment, I'm afraid." As she made the last statement she gave him an apologetic look.

Lily glanced over at her niece sharply, "did you say the Lestrange Vault?"

Kushina blinked in puzzlement but replied, "yes Aunt Lily. Why?" She asked cocking her head to the right.

Lily smirked, "simple, two of my spies in the Death Eaters was Rodolphus and Rabastan Lestrange."

Frank and Alice glanced at each other, "that makes sense. The only reason Neville wasn't hurt was because Rabastan and Rodolphus claimed they couldn't find him at all. Bellatrix and Crouch were the ones to torture the two of us. Since we knew that Neville was safe both of us kept our mouth's shut, not that we knew anything about what they were asking anyway." Frank commented wryly.

"But what does the fact that the Lestrange brothers are your spies have to do with anything?" asked Tonks.

Lily looked at the pink haired Auror, "simple, I can have them disbar Bellatrix from entering the Lestrange Vault and if they can, kill Nagini." Lily stated calmly.

Kingsley nodded, "good plan. But one hitch, the Lestrange brothers have been in Azkaban for fourteen years. It's highly unlikely that they are still sane enough to do what you want them to." He pointed out.

At that comment most of the Order sighed and looked disappointed. Kushina furrowed her brow in thought, Hermione glanced at her friend and recognizing the look asked, "alright, what are you thinking about?"

At Hermione's question both Ron and Neville glanced at Kushina, they too recognized the look. It was the look Kushina got when she had to do something everyone claimed was either difficult or impossible. Kushina smirked, "I know a way I can tell if they are insane or still sane." She stated smugly.

Remus looked up at his daughter, "and how is that, Cub?"

Kushina smirked down at him, "simple, I'll send one of my Zanpakuto to Azkaban and have him chat with them." With that statement, she thrust her left arm out and with a burst of Reiatsu the silhouette of a man appeared. He was on one knee next to Kushina, the Order members could tell that he had a shaggy beard and when he looked up they all saw piercing dark eyes that seemed to be looking straight into their souls. Although what shocked them the most was the huge black feathered wings jutting out from his back.

He smirked as he rose, after he finished standing he looked to his right at Kushina, "what do you require of me, My Lady?" He asked in a gravelly voice.

Kushina looked up at him with a grin, "I need you to go to Azkaban and speak with Rabastan and his brother Rodolphus to determine if the two of them are sane enough to take a mission for Aunt Lily."

Thanatos nodded, "as you wish, My Lady. I will return as soon as I can." With that he bowed and disappeared from sight.

"How long do you think it will take for him to find out if they are still sane?" Lily asked her.

Kushina hummed, "it shouldn't take too long. So long as the pair can still remember that they are spies and not actually Death Eaters we should be okay. Did you have a pass question to be able to send someone else in your place to meet them?" Kushina looked over at Lily with a raised eyebrow.

"Shouldn't you have asked that before he went running off?" Moody growled.

Kushina smirked, "Moody you are forgetting that Thanatos and Anubis are the guardian's of my inner world. I don't need to have them here to tell them something." She rolled her eyes at his paranoia. She then turned back to her Aunt and again raised a questioning eyebrow.

Lily looked at her oddly but answered, "Yes. They will ask him who else was my spy in the lower death eaters. Which you already know the identity of since I told you just last week." She added absently.

Kushina hummed, "alright, I'll let him know." With that she closed her eyes and concentrated on Thanatos. '_**Thanatos, Aunt Lily says that they will question you on who else was a spy in the lower death eaters. That other spy was Regulus Black. Got it?'**_

She heard a reply from him, _**'Yes, my Lady. I'll remember it. What questions do you want me to ask?'**_

She smirked slightly before replying, _**'ask them their opinion of the current minister and of Bellatrix Lestrange. If sane they should reply that Bellatrix is crazy and that the minister is an idiot.'**_ She felt his amusement and assent to the questions.

While Kushina was having the conversation with her Aunt, Thanatos was flying quickly over the land before reaching the shore. Just as he reached the shore he heard his Lady tell him about the question that would be asked. He carefully flew over the water, easily avoiding the human guards and Dementors. He searched the windows to find the Lestrange brothers, thankfully neither brother was near Bellatrix.

He found the brothers sharing a cell, he heard them talking quietly to each other. "How long do you think it will be before Moldy Voldy makes his move, Rabastan?" asked Rodolphus.

Rabastan snorted, "who knows. I'm worried, Regulus is dead, so is Lily. Just who the hell are we supposed to give our information to? I mean I know Lily had a spy in the inner circle but she had to suppress his memory for his own safety." Thanatos was surprised at how worried the man sounded.

He decided to let the pair know he was there by clearing his throat. To his amusement he saw the brothers jump, before whirling around toward the window. The brothers gaped in shock at seeing a man with wings hovering outside their window.

"Who the hell are you? And what the heck are you doing outside our cell window?" the brothers demanded in chorus.

He chuckled, "my name is Thanatos. As for why I'm here, that's simple I'm here to ask you a few questions."

The brothers goggled at him, before they demanded, "who the hell sent you here?"

"My Lady was asked by a woman named Lily to see if I could find out if you two were still sane or rather relatively sane for being in Azkaban for fourteen years." Thanatos joked.

Rabastan froze in place but shook himself out of it, "if Lily did send you then who was her spy in the lower death eaters?" He questioned suspiciously.

Thanatos chuckled but answered, "Regulus Black. Younger brother to Sirius Black and cousin to your brother's wife."

Rabastan and Rodolphus looked at each other then nodded, "alright it seem she did send you. What are the questions?" asked Rodolphus.

Thanatos' wings were beating to keep him in place as he pulled his legs up and sat in a cross-legged position. "Question number one: what is your opinion on the current minister of magic?"

Both men snort and answer in chorus, "Fudge is an idiot who can't even find his own nose without help."

Thanatos smirked at their answer, "you two and my Lady would get along splendidly. Question number two: what is your opinion on Bellatrix Lestrange?"

This time the brothers smirked at him, "she's crazy!"

Then Rodolphus commented, "and I'm getting a divorce as soon as possible." Rabastan snickered at his brother's quip.

That got both a laugh and a smirk out of Thanatos, "so far your answers make you seem sane. So let me tell my Lady so she can let Lady Lily know."

The brothers shrugged and expected him to fly away but to their surprise all the winged man did was close his eyes.

'_**My Lady, they answered the questions satisfactorily and Rodolphus commented that he is getting a divorce from Bellatrix as soon as he can.'**_ Thanatos felt his Lady's amusement.

The Order was surprised to hear a chuckle come from Kushina. "What's so funny?" asked Sirius.

Kushina looked at him with an amused glint in her eyes, "just a comment that Rodolphus made to Thanatos."

Remus looked over at his daughter, "what was it?" he asked.

Kushina snickered, "he said that he's getting a divorce from Bellatrix as soon as he can."

Lily laughed, "that sounds like Rodolphus, alright. Could you have Thanatos tell them what I need them to do when Voldemort breaks them out?"

Kushina nodded at her aunt, "of course." Kushina closed her eyes again to communicate with her Zanpakuto.

'_**Thanatos, I need you to tell the brothers that Lily needs them to keep their eyes out for an opportunity to kill Voldemort's snake as well as barring Bellatrix from entering the Lestrange Vault. If they can't bar her from the Vault then I need them to retrieve the Cup entrusted into Bellatrix's care by Voldemort. Got it?'**_

'_**I've got it my Lady.'**_

'_**Come home after doing so.'**_

'_**Yes, my Lady.'**_

The brothers watched the expressions fly across the mans face before he opened his eyes back up.

"Lily has told my lady to give you some orders, would you be willing to take the orders?" he asked quietly.

They glanced at each other before nodding, "yes. So what are the orders?" asked Rabastan.

Thanatos smirked, "first order is: when Voldemort breaks you and the others out, keep your eyes peeled for a chance to kill his snake. Second order: either bar Bellatrix from the Lestrange Vault or take the cup that she was entrusted with out of it and bring it to Hogwarts for disposal. Third order: be careful with your lives, Lily doesn't want to have to bury either of you. It's bad enough she had to bury Regulus."

Rodolphus smirked, "that's Lily all over. Alright, we'll do it. I take it that if we kill the snake we are to get our butts out of there pronto, right?"

Thanatos smirked at him, "you got it. Kill the snake but stay safe. Now if you two would excuse me I must return to my Lady's side at once." With that he gave a bow and disappeared into thin air.

Rabastan snorted before turning to look at Rodolphus, "I wonder if we can learn to do that."

Rodolphus laughed before nodding in agreement.

Thanatos appeared at Kushina side, "the orders have been given my Lady. They have both agreed to be careful with their lives." After giving her his report he disappeared from sight, and once more the embossed crow appeared on her bracer.

Lily sighed in relief, "thank the gods. Those two can be rather stubborn."

James, Sirius, Severus and Remus snorted before James commented, "Pot calling Kettle."

Lily glared at him playfully, before commenting, "well all we can do now is wait for Voldemort to break his death eaters out. He's not going to make a move for a while though, he'll lay low to let everyone think he's not back."

James sighed but nodded in agreement. "Moving on. Who is doing what for the up coming year?"

Albus spoke up, "well, you will be assisting Minerva with teaching Transfiguration and teaching DADA when Remus cannot due to the moon. Lily is taking over teaching Potions to the first through fifth years while Severus can devout his time to teaching the sixth and seventh years. Remus has deemed to retake the DADA position again while Sirius has said that he will wander around in his animagus form to keep an eye on the students." As he spoke he had a bemused expression on his face, he then commented quietly, "although I don't know what Frank, Alice or the Prewett twins are planning to do."

Fabian smirked and said while gesturing at her, "Kushina has asked us if we would be willing to put wards up around her cousins house and those of his friends. We've agreed to the request, so me and Gideon will be in Japan for a while." With that both brothers gave their sister an apologetic glance.

Molly merely smiled indulgently at them before she said, "just make sure to send letters." The men nodded in fervent agreement.

Frank sighed, "Alice and I have been asked by Amelia to help her and Rufus reorganize the DMLE. She's also asked if we would be willing to take the new Aurors through a refresher course. I know that Alastor has volunteered to help with the refresher course." With that he nodded to Mad Eye in wry amusement.

Minerva chuckled, "the new Aurors won't know what's hit them. As much as I like talking to you all, School does start in three days and I have to prepare for the classes as does Severus." The order murmured their agreements, as many had kids to see off to school or were teaching at the school themselves.

James and the others had already been given quarters at Hogwarts. James and Remus were sharing quarters same with Sirius and Severus. Lily had chosen quarters in the dungeons while Remus and James chose quarters near Gryffindor tower. Kushina had found out that she was given her own rooms in Gryffindor tower due to her having spent the last four years in the boys dorm. The teachers felt that she would be uncomfortable in the girls dorm while the boys would be uncomfortable with her in their dorm now that they knew she was a girl. Thus they gave her the old rooms for the Student Head of House. All four houses used to have a Student Head of House that they could go to if the Head of House could not be disturbed. It was their job to oversee and make sure that the students stayed in line. But they were also to retrieve or have someone retrieve the Head of House if a problem arose that they could not handle.

The Student Head of house quarters was right off the common room under the stairs leading to the dorms. It was guarded by a portrait that was changed whenever a new Student Head was appointed. The Portrait had a Password but could also judge weather or not to let the person in even if they had the correct password.

The old practice of having a Student Head of House fell out of custom about thirty years after Albus graduated school. They would be giving it a trial run by Kushina and if it was successful then they would appoint it in all houses the year after she graduated. Students from third year to fifth year would be the only ones selected since that would give them at least three years of one Student Head. Only those who conducted themselves honorably and were unable to be bullied would be selected as Student Head. If caught abusing their position they would be dismissed of their duty and replaced, once dismissed they would lose all privileges. Including Hogsmead visits, Prefect positions, Head girl or boy positions as well as the position on the Quidditch team if they were on it.

When Minerva had Kushina bond herself to the Portrait, it changed to show a room that appeared to be at the height of a tower judging by the view out the window, it was overlooking a mountain with four faces carved on it. A man was seated at a desk in the room, he had blond hair and blue eyes, he was muttering that the paperwork never seemed to end and that if he knew about the paperwork he would have never taken the job. When he said that Kushina laughed and teased him, "you know you still would have taken it, even if you had known about the paperwork, Minato."

The man looked up and smiled wryly, "yeah I would have…" he chuckled lightly. After that he said, "you are supposed to set a password. What would you like it to be?"

Kushina considered it carefully before she decided on her answer, "I'd like two, one for me alone and one for students to get me if need be. The first will be your nickname, the second will be SOS. Got it?"

He smirked at her answer before he replied, "sure got it. Your password is my nickname and the student password is SOS."

Minerva had questioned Kushina on her choice for the students password, "why SOS?"

Kushina laughed, "SOS is a distress signal used by muggles, it can stand for Save Our Ship or Send Out Succor. Basically it's just a way of saying 'I need help now!'" Kushina chuckled while Minerva blinked in shock. Kushina then commented, "plus it helps that it's easy to remember." Minerva couldn't argue with that.

The only ones that would be staying in Jackal's Lair was Alice, Frank, Neville, and Kushina. Hermione, Ron, Ginny and the Twins would be staying in Grimmauld Place for the next three nights. However they were allowed to come over to Jackals Lair if they wanted for the day but they had to be back at Grimmauld Place by 8:00pm. All the adults teaching would be staying at Hogwarts, Sirius was also at Hogwarts preparing for the upcoming year by helping Severus brew potions.


	14. Chapter 13: Boarding The Train

Chapter Thirteen: Boarding The Train

Before anyone knew it September first was upon them and everyone raced to make it to the station. It was the first time that Neville's parents would be seeing him off to school as well as Kushina being seen off by Kisuke and her parents.

Kisuke gave her a kiss and told her to be careful this year, while her Dad and Papa hugged her and told her to behave on the train. Remus commented that he would see her at school, while James bemoaned not being able to ride the train anymore. Lily had ruffled her nieces hair and told her to have fun on the ride. She then gave Ron and Hermione hugs and told them the same thing that she told Kushina. The other people on the platform was gaping in shock as they hadn't believed the paper when it said that the Potters had been found alive nor that James had hid his daughters true gender for her own safety.

Kushina smirked remembering that printing, she saved a copy and sent it to Kisuke: JAMES POTTER SPEAKS OUT! HE REVEALS TRUTH TO WORLD LONG HIDDEN! MORE ON THE SIRIUS BLACK SCANDAL AFTER THE POTTER INTERVIEW!

James Potter gives interview about past. The interview is as follows, both reporter and Mr. Potter took an oath that what is reported is the truth and only the truth.

Reporter: Hello Mr. Potter. I understand that you wished to give an interview today.

J.P.: Hello, and yes I do wish to make a statement.

Reporter: Very well, what is it that you would like to tell the world?

J.P.: First off, if the Daily Prophet doesn't stop harassing my child I will shut it down.

Reporter: whatever do you mean, Mr. Potter?

At that question Mr. Potter glared at the reporter.

J.P: Don't try to act innocent, I know very well what you were doing and if you don't want me to sue you for slandering the name of the heir of my family you will cease to be doing it. Or has the managers of the Prophet forgotten that the Potter Family owns the majority of the Prophet's shares.

Reporter: Very well, I shall inform my managers immediately. Is there anything else?

J.P.: Yes, I planned to reveal this fact before now but since myself, Sirius and Lily were unavoidably detained at the time we couldn't. My child's true name isn't Harry Potter but Kushina Ruri Potter-Lupin. Lily is my adopted sister and my husband is Remus Lupin.

Reporter: You do realize that your husband is a werewolf, don't you Mr. Potter?

J.P.: Oh, my. I never noticed in all the seven years we roomed together at Hogwarts that he disappeared around the full moon.

At that Mr. Potter rolled his eyes and continued with: Of course I know that he's a werewolf. However Werewolves do not harm their mate nor their children even during the full moon, not even if their mate and child are human. In fact the first few bites of werewolves on human was because the human got too close to the werewolves mate or cub for its comfort. It's pure instinct to protect your offspring and mate.

Reporter: Anything else Mr. Potter?

J.P.: Nope, I can't think of anything.

Mr. Potter stood up and went to leave when he turned around: Oh, there is this, my daughter is engaged to a man that I approve of and should he hear of any more slander to her name I will stand aside and let him ruin you. And trust me you don't want Kisuke Urahara mad at you.

Concerning the Sirius Black Scandal. 

It appears that Sirius Black is currently in the custody of Albus Dumbledore or whoever he has chosen. It has been revealed that Sirius Black accompanied the Aurors to rescue the Potters from their prison. He has been offered the Order of Merlin Second Class but he has refused it. He has not been seen in public at all nor has anyone spotted him, all questions to Albus Dumbledore concerning his whereabouts has been ignored save for one comment. "If Sirius wishes you to know where he is then he will tell you himself. Until then leave young Mr. Black alone."

She snickered mentally at the memory of the face the reporter made when her father threatened to sue the Prophet for slandering her name. He had shown her and Remus the memory in the pensive he had given her for a belated birthday present.

Ron and Hermione had disappeared to the prefects compartment for their meeting while Kushina left with Neville and Ginny to find a compartment. Ginny had led them to the compartment with a young girl being the only occupant. She had disheveled, waist-length, dirty blond hair, very pale eyebrows and prominent eyes that gave her a permanently surprised look. Kushina had seen her before but had never been introduced.

"Hey, Luna. Do you mind if we sit here?" Ginny asked.

She looked up and nodded, she seemed to give off an air of distinct eccentricity. Perhaps it was the fact that she had her wand tucked behind her ear for safekeeping, or that she had chosen to wear a necklace made of Butterbeer corks, or that she was reading a magazine upside-down. Her eyes ranged over Neville and came to rest on Kushina.

"Thanks," said Ginny, while smiling at her.

Kushina and Neville stowed the three trunks and Hedwig's empty cage in the luggage rack and sat down.

Luna watched them over her upside-down magazine, which was called The Quibbler. She seemed not to need to blink as much as normal humans. She stared and stared at Kushina who had taken the seat opposite of her and now was somewhat wishing she hadn't. Although this girl reminded her of Kisuke for some odd reason, plus she had seen her sometimes in her dreams. She had often seen her in the company of the captain of squad seven.

"Did you have a good summer Luna?" Ginny asked while sitting down.

"Yes," she said dreamily, without taking her eyes off of Kushina. "Yes it was quite enjoyable, you know. You used to be Harry Potter, but you've finally stopped hiding." She added, "I was wondering when you would show who you truly were." She then turned to Neville who had chuckled at her comment about Kushina hiding. "I don't know who you are though." She commented.

"I'm nobody," he commented hurriedly.

"No you are not," Ginny and Kushina chorused sharply.

"Neville Longbottom - Luna Lovegood. Luna's in my year but in Ravenclaw." Ginny continued.

"Wit beyond measure is man greatest treasure," chorused Kushina and Luna in a singsong voice. Luna blinked in shock, she never had anyone chorus with her before, Kushina smiled at her gently.

Kushina smiled at the blond haired Ravenclaw and answered her earlier comment, "I got tired of hiding it anyway. What are you reading about?" Kushina asked while she cocked her head to the right.

"I'm reading the article on ancient runes. If you read the runes upside down it reveals how to turn your enemies ears into kumquats." Luna commented with an offhand tone.

Kushina blinked, but shrugged then asked, "do you know how I can get a subscription to the Quibbler? I know somebody who would love to read articles like that."

Luna glanced over the edge of the magazine, "of course. Daddy runs the Quibbler so I can easily get you a subscription. Who do you want the subscription to go to?" She asked curiously while taking out a piece of parchment to write on.

"Kisuke Urahara in Karakura Town, Japan. A man by the name of Tessai can also take delivery of it, he can get it to Kisuke." Kushina commented in an offhand tone.

Luna nodded as she wrote down the information on who to send it to before commenting, "the price of a years subscription is only a Galleon and it is printed once a month."

Kushina nodded, "alright, I'll send him a letter telling him about the subscription. Here," she said handing Luna a galleon, "for the next year. If Kisuke likes it, I'll lend him my owl to send the next payment."

Luna smiled dreamily, "alright." With that she went back to her article.

The four of them passed the next hour quietly, the only time that they spoke was when the food trolley had gone by and they had gotten snacks. Kushina bought some for Ron and Hermione since she didn't know if they would be able to get anything off the cart later.

Kushina was swapping chocolate frog cards with Ginny and Neville when the compartment door slid open to reveal Ron and Hermione. They were accompanied by Crookshanks and Pigwidgeon who was hooting shrilly in his cage.

Ron plopped down next to Kushina after stowing Pigwidgeon next to Hedwig's cage, he grabbed the chocolate frog that Kushina offered him. He ripped open the wrapper, bit of the frogs head and leaned back with his eyes closed as if he had a very exhausting morning.

Hermione had sat down next to Ginny, then sighed in exhaustion before she said, "there are two prefects per house." She looked disgruntled as she took the seat.

"I'll give you three guesses as to who is a prefect for Slytherin. And the first two don't count," said Ron with his eyes still closed.

"Malfoy," the other three Gryffindors chorused. Certain that their worst fear would be confirmed.

"Course," Ron said bitterly, stuffing the rest of the frog into his mouth and taking another from the pile in front of him and Kushina.

Hermione snorted, "that cow Pansy Parkinson is the female prefect. Then again they didn't have much choice in the girl for Slytherin. I mean they only had Pansy and Bulstrode to chose from." She said huffily.

Kushina looked up puzzled, "what about Daphne Greengrass or Tracy Davis? Couldn't either of them have been made Prefect?" She asked curiously while unwrapping a chocolate frog.

Hermione shook her head, "they offered them the position but as soon as they found out who was the male Prefect both girls turned it down."

Kushina snorted and said with a sneer, "figures. If I had to share the position with Malfoy I'd turn it down too."

"So who is the prefects for Hufflepuff?" asked Neville curiously.

"Ernie Macmillan and Hannah Abbott," Ron said thickly.

"Hannah is a prefect!" Neville squeaked before blushing slightly. The other Gryffindors pointedly ignored his blush and the way he squeaked Hannah's name.

"Anthony Goldstein and Padma Patil are the prefects for Ravenclaw," Hermione mentioned while grabbing a pumpkin pasty.

Kushina hummed thoughtfully before grabbing a chocolate frog and eating it slowly.

Ron looked at her from where he was eating a cauldron cake, "Kushina, just how much authority do you have over prefects? I mean prefects have authority over the other students but we have to patrol. We can assign punishments and take points," he pointed out thoughtfully.

Kushina blinked, then swallowed her frog before she answered, "with Gryffindor Prefects… I have a lot. With the other houses I can only over ride the decision of the prefect if I can prove that the punishment was not justified. Why?"

Ron grinned, "simple if Malfoy tries to get you in troubled. He'll be in for a rude awakening won't he?"

Hermione raised her eyebrows, "he's right. By all intents and purposes, you have the same authority as Professor McGonagall. Especially since you are supposed to teach select groups about this Kido of yours." She commented with a smirk, "if Malfoy tries to get you in trouble and cannot prove that you have abused your position then he will be in trouble."

Ginny frowned thoughtfully, "what sort of privileges do you have anyway, Kushina?" Luna glanced over the magazine at Kushina clearly curious as to what they were talking about.

Kushina sighed, but explained, "Student Heads of House are required to be available to solve problems in the house immediately. I have the authority to assign punishments, take points and if I feel that a prefects decision is wrong revoke it if I have proof. I'm allowed outside of the common room after curfew and I have access to the restricted section. However my access is limited to daytime use and I cannot take the books outside of the library with out the written consent of a Professor. I also don't have to patrol but I can if I want, that's the only reason I'm allowed out after curfew, well that and in case I have to get the Head of House."

The other four Gryffindors merely nodded, "that makes sense. If there is trouble that you can't handle then obviously you have to be able to get the Head of House." Hermione commented quietly.

The weather remained undecided as they traveled further and farther north. Rain splattered half-heartedly against the windows and the sun put in a feeble appearance occasionally before the clouds once again covered it. When darkness fell the lamps came on inside the carriages, after that Luna put away her magazine in her bag and took to staring at everyone inside the compartment instead.

Kushina was sitting with her forehead pressed against the glass, trying in vain to get a faint glimpse of Hogwarts in the distance. However the moon was hidden behind clouds and the rain that streaked the window made it grimy.

Hermione commented, "we better change."

All of them opened their trunks with difficulty and pulled on their school robes. Hermione and Ron pinned their prefect badges carefully to their chests. Kushina caught Ron checking his reflection in the black window. She chuckled quietly and shook her head fondly at him, he gave her a sheepish smile after he realized she caught him.

At last, the train began to slow down as it entered Hogsmeade and they heard the usual racket up and down the halls as everyone scrambled to get their luggage and pets assembled to take to put in the carriages to get to the castle. Since Ron and Hermione were supposed supervise this, they disappeared from the carriage again, leaving Kushina and the others to look after Crookshanks and Pigwidgeon.

"I can carry that owl, if you like," Luna said to Kushina, reaching out for Pigwidgeon as Neville stowed Trevor carefully in an inside pocket.

"Oh - er - thanks," said Kushina, handing her the cage and stowed Hedwig's cage inside her trunk before securing it closed.

They shuffled out of the compartment feeling the first sting of the night air on their faces as they joined the crowd in the corridor. Slowly, they moved to the doors. Kushina could smell the pine trees that lined the path down to the lake. She stepped down on to the platform, she then reached up to help Ginny and Luna down while listening for the familiar call of 'firs' years over 'ere… firs' years…'

But it didn't come. Instead, a quite different voice, a brisk female one, was calling out, 'First years line up over here, please! All first years to me!'

A lantern came swinging towards Kushina and the others, by its light he saw the prominent chin and severe haircut of Professor Grubbly-Plank, the witch who had taken over Hagrid's Care of Magical Creatures lessons for a while the previous year.

Kushina frowned before asking out loud, "where's Hagrid?"

"I don't know," Ginny said, "but we should get out of the way, we're blocking the door." She pointed out.

"Oh, yeah," Kushina murmured still worried about Hagrid not being there to greet the first years like usual.

Kushina became separated from Ginny and Luna as they moved off along the platform and out through the station. Jostled by the crowd, she squinted through the darkness for a glimpse of Hagrid; he had to be there, Kushina had been relying on it - seeing Hagrid again was one of the first things she did at Hogwarts. But there was no sign of him.

_**He can't have left,**_ she told herself as she shuffled slowly through a narrow doorway onto the road outside with the rest of the crowd. _**He's just got a cold or something…**_

_**Maybe he's still on that mission for Albus,**_ Thanatos pointed out gently to her.

_**Thanatos is right, perhaps he just hasn't come back yet. Do not worry so my Lady, he will be fine,**_ Anubis consoled her.

Kushina bit her lip, but replied mentally, _**you're right. There is no point worrying, if he was hurt, I'm sure Albus would have told me.**_ Kushina did her best to shrug off her worry for her first wizarding friend but it was rather difficult.

She looked around for Ron or Hermione to ask them what they thought about the reappearance of Professor Grubbly-Plank. However neither was anywhere near her, so she allowed herself to be pushed forwards onto the rain-washed street outside the station.

In front of the station stood the hundred or so horseless stagecoaches that always took the 2nd years and above to the school. Kushina glanced at them quickly, then turned away to keep a lookout for Ron and Hermione, but did a double take.

The coaches were no longer horseless, then again upon seeing the creatures in front of them she doubted they ever were. They resembled horses but were reptilian, they were completely fleshless, their pitch black coats clinging to their skeletons, of which every bone was visible. Their heads had a dragonish look, and their white eyes appeared to have no pupil's much like the Hyuga clan of Konoha. Wings protruded from the withers - vast, black leathery wings that look as if they ought to belong to giant bats. Kushina gave a quiet sigh and hoped that very few of her fellow students would ever see these creatures. For Thestrals can only be seen by those who have witnessed death and accepted it.

"Where's Pig?" Ron asked from behind Kushina.

"Luna has him," she said, turning around quickly, eager to asked Ron about Hagrid. "Where d'you reckon - "

" - Hagrid is? I dunno," Ron said sounding worried. "He better be okay…"

A short distance away from them, Draco Malfoy, followed by a small band of cronies, including Crabbe, Goyle, and Pansy Parkinson, was pushing some timid-looking second years out of the way so he and his friends could get a coach to themselves. Seconds later, Hermione emerged panting from the crowd.

"Malfoy was being absolutely foul to a first year back there. Kushina, I swear I'm going to report him to Professor Snape, he's only had his badge three minutes and he's using it to bully people worse than ever… Where's Crookshanks?" Hermione said while glaring at Malfoy.

"Ginny has him," said Kushina. "There she is…" she pointed over Ron's shoulder where Ginny had just emerged from the crowd, clutching a squirming Crookshanks.

"Thanks," Hermione said, relieving Ginny of her fussing cat. "Come on, lets get a carriage together before they fill up…"

"I haven't got Pig yet!" Ron said anxiously, but Hermione was already heading off towards the nearest unoccupied coach. Kushina remained behind with Ron, she said nothing about being able to see the Thestrals since she knew he wouldn't be able to see them anyway.

Luna appeared out of the crowd holding Pigwidgeon's cage in her arms; the tiny owl was twittering excitedly as usual for him. "Here you go," she said. "He's a sweet little owl, isn't he?"

"Er… yeah… he's all right," Ron said gruffly. "Well, come on then, let's get in…"

The three made their way to the coach that Hermione and Ginny snagged. Before getting in Kushina petted the pair of Thestrals pulling the coach. Luna cocked her head to the side before petting the one on the left, "they are very nice. Aren't they?" Luna asked dreamily.

Kushina nodded, "they are. It's a pity that everyone believes them to be a bad omen… I take it you can see them?" She asked quietly, looking at Luna with knowing eyes.

Luna nodded, "yes, I've been able to see them since my first day here." Kushina smiled sadly, thinking to herself, _**no eleven year old should be able to see them. No child that young should have to witness and accept a death. **_Together they climbed into the coach.

As they closed the doors, Kushina heard Ginny ask, "did everyone see that Grubbly-Plank woman?" After everyone gave affirmative sounds, she continued, "what's she doing back here? Hagrid can't have left, can he?"

"I'll be quite glad if he has," Luna said, "he isn't a very good teacher, is he?"

"Yes, he is!" Ginny and Ron said angrily. Then the siblings blinked before looking at Kushina and Hermione wondering why they hadn't defended Hagrid.

Kushina sighed before explaining, "while I like Hagrid and think his lessons are interesting. He doesn't realize that what is easy for him to handle can be difficult for third years to handle. So while I would love to defend him, I have to admit that in some ways she is correct…" Hermione nodded in agreement.

Luna nodded before she said, "exactly, most of the Ravenclaws think he's a bit of a joke. But I rather like him as a person, I just wish he would understand that not all of us can handle large animals."

"Your housemates have a rubbish sense of humor than," Ron said snappishly, as the wheels below them began to turn.

Luna merely nodded in agreement and continued to watch him as if he was a mildly interesting television programme.

Rattling and swaying, the coaches moved in a convoy up the road. When they passed between the tall stone pillars topped with winged boars on either side of the gates to the school grounds, Kushina leaned forwards to try and see whether or not there were any lights on in Hagrid's cabin by the Forbidden Forest. But the grounds were in complete darkness. Hogwart's castle, however loomed ever closer: a towering mass of turrets, jet black against the night sky, here and there dotted with a window blazing fiery bright above them.

The coaches jingled to a halt near the stone steps leading up to the oak doors and Kushina got out first. She turned again to look for lit windows down by the Forest, but there was no sign of life in Hagrid's cabin. She then turned to the Thestrals and patted the one on the right, before murmuring in its ear. "Thank you for pulling the coaches."

"Are you coming or what?" Ron asked from beside her.

"Oh… yes," she said quickly, and they joined the crowd hurrying up the stone steps into the castle.

The Entrance Hall was ablaze with torches and echoing with footsteps as the students crossed the flagged stone floor for the double doors to the right, leading into the Great Hall and the start of term feast.

The four long house tables in the Great Hall were filling up under the starless black ceiling, which was just like the sky they could glimpse through the high windows. Candles floated in midair all along the tables, illuminating the silvery ghosts who were dotted about the Hall as well as the faces of the students talking eagerly to each other. They were exchanging summer news, shouting greetings at friends from other houses, eyeing one another's new hair cuts and robes. Many of them were glancing at her from the corners of their eyes, still in disbelief that the Golden Boy of Gryffindor was actually the Golden Girl. She ignored the way they put their heads together to whisper as she passed; she rolled her eyes, as if she even cared what they thought so long as her friends and family believed in her.

Luna drifted away from them at the Ravenclaw table. The moment they reached Gryffindor's, Ginny was hailed by some fellow fourth years and left to sit with them; Kushina, Ron, Hermione and Neville found seat together about halfway down the table between Nearly Headless Nick, the Gryffindor Ghost, who shivered slightly at the feel of Kushina's tightly restrained Reiatsu, and Parvati Patil who was next to Lavender Brown. The gossiping girls gave Kushina airy, overly-friendly greetings that made her quite sure that they had stopped talking about her a split second before. _**Thank the King I won't have to room with them!**_ She thought gladly to herself, but she heard the snicker of both of her Zanpakuto. She had more important things to be concerned about however; she was looking over the student heads to the staff table that ran along the top wall of the hall.

"He's not here." She said quietly, giving a quick nod to her uncle 'Rus who gave a slight nod back. The black dog laying at his feet was panting, its tongue lolling out of the left side of its mouth, it too gave her a nod.

Ron and Hermione scanned the staff table as well, though there was no real need; Hagrid's size made him instantly obvious in any lineup.

Ron frowned, "he can't have left," he said sounding anxious.

"Of course he hasn't," Kushina said firmly.

"You don't think he's… hurt, or anything, do you?" Hermione said uneasily, shooting a questioning look at Kushina.

"No," she said at once. "If he was hurt the Headmaster would have let us know. He knows that Hagrid is our friend."

There was a slight pause, then Kushina said quietly, so that Parvati and Lavender couldn't hear, "maybe he's not back yet. You know - from his mission - the thing he was doing over the summer for Dumbledore."

"Yeah…yeah, that'll be it," Ron said, sounding reassured, but Hermione bit her lip, looking up and down the staff table as though hoping for some conclusive explanation of Hagrid's absence.

The three murmured quietly amongst themselves, wondering how the Headmaster was going to introduce the new Transfiguration professor for the fifth through seventh years as well as the new Potions professor for the first through fifth years. Kushina remembered that her Aunt, Papa and Dad were going to be eating in the Kitchen and would make their way to the Great Hall to be introduced after the feast. She told Ron and Hermione as much, Neville nodded and murmured, "makes sense. I have the feeling that your Dad has wanted to make an entrance ever since we told him what Mad-Eye's fake double had done." Both Ron and Hermione nodded in agreement while Kushina smirked.

Kushina's eye caught Professor Grubbly-Plank appearing behind the staff table; she worked her way along to the very end and took the seat that ought to have been Hagrid's. That meant that the first years must have crossed the lake and reached the castle, and sure enough, a few seconds later, the doors from the Entrance Hall opened. A long line of scared-looking first years entered, led by Professor McGonagall, who was carry a stool on which sat an ancient wizards hat, heavily patched and darned with a wide rip near the frayed brim.

The buzz of talk in the Great Hall faded away. The first years lined up in front of the staff table facing the rest of the students, and Professor McGonagall placed the stool carefully in front of them, then stood back.

The first years' faces glowed palely in the candlelight. A small boy right in the middle of the row looked as though he was trembling. She recalled, fleetingly, how terrified she had felt when she had stood there, waiting for the unknown test that would determine to which house she belonged.

The whole school waited with bated breath. Then the rip near the hat's brim opened wide like a mouth and the Sorting Hat burst into song:

In times of old when I was new

And Hogwarts barely started

The founders of our noble school

Swore never to be parted:

United by a common goal,

They had the selfsame yearning,

To make the worlds best magic school

And pass along their learning.

'Together we will build and teach!'

The four good friends decided

And never did they dream that their houses

Might someday be divided,

For were there such friends anywhere

As Slytherin and Gryffindor?

Unless it was the second pair

Of Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw?

So how could it have gone so wrong?

How could such friendships fail?

Why I was there and so can tell

The whole sad, sorry tale.

Said Slytherin, "We'll teach just those

Who are purest."

Said Ravenclaw, "We'll teach those whose

Intelligence is surest."

Said Gryffindor, "We'll teach all those

With brave deeds to their name."

Said Hufflepuff, "I'll teach the lot,

And treat them just the same!"

These differences caused little strife

When first they came to light,

For each of the four founders had

A house in which they might

Take only those they wanted, so,

For instance, Slytherin

Took only the wizards he deemed purest,

And only those of sharpest mind

Were taught by Ravenclaw

While the bravest and the boldest

Went to daring Gryffindor.

Good Hufflepuff, she took the rest,

And taught them all she knew,

Thus the houses and their founders

Retained friendships firm and true.

So Hogwarts worked in harmony

For many, many happy years,

But discord crept among us

Feeding on our faults and fears.

And the houses that, like pillars four,

Had once held up our school,

Now turned upon each other and,

Divided sought to rule.

And if the founders had lived to see it,

It might have meant an early end for the school.

What with the dueling and the fighting,

And the clash of friend on friend.

For long ago did Gryffindor part for the battlefield,

Saying only, 'I'll be back within a fortnight.'

But news came within the week,

That Lord Gryffindor had fallen,

And the news left Slytherin quite down-hearted.

And never since the founders four

Were whittled down to three

Have the houses been united

As they were once meant to be.

And now the Sorting Hat is here

And you all now know the score:

I sort you into houses

Because that is what I am for,

But this year I'll go on further,

Listen closely to my song:

Though condemned I am to split you

Still I worry that it's wrong

Though I must fulfill my duty

And must quarter every year

Still I wonder whether Sorting

May not bring the end I fear.

Oh, know the perils, read the signs,

The warning history shows,

For our Hogwarts is in danger

From external, deadly foes

And we must unite inside her

Or we'll crumble from within

I have told you, I have warned you…

Let the Sorting now begin!

The Hat became motionless once more; applause broke out, though it was punctured, for the first time in Kushina's memory, with muttering and whispers. All across the Great Hall students were exchanging remarks with their neighbors, and Kushina, clapping along with everyone else, knew exactly what they were talking about.

"Branched out a bit this year, hasn't it?" Ron said, his eyebrows raised.

Kushina nodded, "too right it has."

The Sorting Hat usually confined itself to describing the different qualities looked for by each of the four Hogwarts houses and its own role in Sorting them. Kushina could not remember it ever trying to give the school advice before.

"I wonder if it's ever given warnings before," Hermione murmured, sounding slightly anxious.

"Yes, indeed," Nearly Headless Nick said knowledgeably, leaning across Neville towards her (Neville winced; as it was very uncomfortable to have a ghost lean through you.) "The Hat feels honor-bound to give the school due warning whenever it feels - "

However, Professor McGonagall, who was waiting to read out the list of first years' names, was giving the whispering students the sort of look that scorches. Nearly Headless Nick placed a see-through finger to his lips and sat primly upright again as the muttering came to an abrupt end. With a last frowning look that swept the four house tables, Professor McGonagall lowered her eyes to her long piece of parchment and called out the first name.

"Abercrombie, Euan."

The terrified-looking boy Kushina had noticed earlier stumbled forwards and put the Hat on his head; it was only prevented from falling right down to his shoulders by his very prominent ears. The Hat considered for a moment, then the rip near the brim opened again and shouted:

"Gryffindor!"

Kushina clapped loudly with the rest of Gryffindor House as Euan Abercrombie staggered to their table and sat down, looking as though he would very much like to sink though the floor and never be looked at again.

Slowly, the long line of first years thinned,. In the pauses between names and the Sorting Hat's decisions, Kushina could hear Ron's stomach rumbling loudly. Finally, 'Zeller, Rose' was Sorted into Hufflepuff, and Professor McGonagall pick up the Hat and the stool and marched them away as Professor Dumbledore rose to his feet.

Whatever else that had change at Hogwarts, Kushina was glad to see the Headmaster standing before all of them. Between the absence of Hagrid and her being able to see the Thestrals, it had been like jarring notes in an old familiar song. But this, at least, was how it was supposed to be: their Headmaster rising to greet them all before the start of term feast.

"To our newcomers," said Dumbledore in a ringing voice, his arms stretched wide and a beaming smile on his lips, "welcome! To our old hands - welcome back! There is a time for speech-making, but this is not it. Tuck in!"

There was an appreciative laugh and an outbreak of applause as Dumbledore sat down neatly and threw his long beard over his shoulder so as to keep it out of the way of his plate - for food had appeared out of nowhere, so that the five long tables were groaning under joints, pies and dishes of vegetables, breads, sauces and flagons of pumpkin juice.

"Excellent," Ron said, with a kind of groan of longing, he seized the nearest plate of chops and began piling them on his plate, watched wistfully by Nearly Headless Nick.

"What were you saying before the Sorting?" Hermione asked the ghost curiously. "About the Hat giving warnings?"

"Oh, yes," Nick said, he seemed glad to have a reason to turn away from Ron, who was now eating roasted potatoes with an almost indecent enthusiasm. "Yes, I've heard the Hat give several warnings before, always at times when it detects periods of great danger for the school. And always, of course, its advice is the same: stand together, be strong from within."

"'Ow kunnit nofe skusin danger ifzat?" Ron said.

His mouth was so full that Kushina thought it was quite an achievement for him to make any noise at all.

"I beg your pardon?" Nick said politely, while Hermione looked revolted. Ron gave an enormous swallow and said clearly, "how can it know if the schools in danger if it's a Hat?"

"I have no idea," Nick said delicately. "Of course, it lives in Dumbledore's office, so I daresay it picks things up there."

"And it wants all the houses to be friends?" Ron said doubtfully, looking over at the Slytherin table, where Draco Malfoy was holding court. "Fat chance."

"Well, now, you shouldn't take that attitude," Nick said reprovingly. "Peaceful co-operation, that's the key. We ghost, though we belong to separate houses, maintain links of friendship. In spite of the competitiveness between Gryffindor and Slytherin, I would never dream of seeking an argument with the Bloody Baron."

Kushina interrupted Ron, she knew he would say something about Nick being terrified of the Baron. "He's right Ron. I'm friends with Astoria and she's a Slytherin, she doesn't view Muggleborns as beneath her, heck she's friends with Hermione. Malfoy has a thing for her but she completely despises him because of his attitude. She told me that if he doesn't knock it off and asks her out one more time she's going to slap him." Kushina smirked in amusement. "Uncle 'Rus showed her a memory this summer of something that happened to Dad in school. Astoria said she might use the same words just to see the reaction on Dad's face."

Nick smirked, "ah I remember that one. Pray tell the young snake to do it in the Great Hall during a meal." He sent a pleading look at Kushina who nodded.

"Still it would take a drastic measure for most houses to get along with Slytherin, one or two students friends with a Slytherin, yes. But every student of every house getting along with all of Slytherin, I can't see it unless the Slytherins knock it off with the insults." Kushina said sadly.

Nick nodded, "true but keep in mind that not all Slytherins think like young Malfoy does. Some are neutral in their beliefs, reserving judgment. Be mindful to do the same, judge each snake by their own merits not by the other members of their house." He said before sweeping off to join the Creevey brothers.

"Well said, Kushina," Hermione said quietly. The students near them had listened into the conversation and sat in silence for the rest of the meal thinking on both Kushina's words and on Nicks.

Kushina did not try to start a conversation, feeling that it was more important to fill her belly with steak and kidney pie, then a large plateful of her favorite treacle tart.

When all of the students had finished eating and the noise level in the hall was starting to creep upwards again, Dumbledore got to his feet once more. Talking ceased immediately as all turned to face the Headmaster. Kushina was feeling pleasantly drowsy now. Her four-poster bed was waiting somewhere above, wonderfully warm and soft…

"Well, now that we are all digesting another magnificent feast, I beg a few moments of your attention for the usual start of term notices," Dumbledore said. "First years ought to know that the Forest in the grounds is out of bounds to students - and a few of our older students ought to know by now, too." (Kushina, Ron and Hermione exchanged smirks.)

"Mr. Filch, our caretaker, has asked me, for what he tells me it the four-hundred and sixty second time, to remind you all that magic is not permitted in the corridors between classes, nor are a number of other things, all of which can be checked on the extensive list now fastened to Mr. Filch's office door." At that there was quite a few chuckles from the Gryffindors, since they knew that the twins were the cause for most of the banned items.

"As you can no doubt see, we have three empty chairs at the staff table. We are very pleased to welcome back Professor Grubbly-Plank, who will be taking Care of Magical Creatures lessons, until Hagrid, who is still on vacation to France comes back." He paused to let the students chuckle in amusement before continuing. "I have no doubt that you remember the survey I sent out in the middle of August…"

He once again paused, and looked expectantly down at the students who chorused back, "yes, Headmaster!"

He chuckled, "the survey was because it was brought to my attention that one of the rules of the Hogwarts charter could be employed to bring back an old Professor to fill the DADA post…" His speech was interrupted by the students chattering excitedly. He cleared his throat and an abashed silence fell upon the hall. "Rule number eight of the Hogwarts Charter states and I quote, 'A nonhuman may be employed by Hogwarts as long as a majority of the students do not feel threatened by the presence of said non human and so long as proper precautions are taken. A vampire must have either a willing donor or must be taking a blood lust suppressing potion. A werewolf on the other hand must have either a pack located nearby or a mate and cub also located near Hogwarts. Werewolves remain calm on the full moon so long as their mate and cub are calm as well as being located safely near them.' Therefore it is with great pleasure that I reintroduce Remus Lupin as your Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor!" The Headmaster announced to the cheering yells of the students, even a few of the Slytherins had given a cheer.

The cheering students turned toward the Entrance Hall doors where they saw Professor Lupin walk in wearing warm golden colored robe that was open over a pair of black slacks and a dark red dress shirt. When he heard the students shouting, "welcome back, Professor Lupin!" He ducked his head but grinned at his reception, once he reached the staff table he took the seat furthest from Professor Snape but gave the Potions master a nod.

Dumbledore chuckled but held up a hand, the students quieted immediately, "I am glad to hear such enthusiasm from you to welcome him back. For those of you concerned about Professor Lupin's transformations, do not be. For I have hired on two new Professors who are large animagus' as well as being part of Professor Lupin's pack. I have been repeatedly told over the years by Professor Snape that he is not suited to teaching the beginning parts of Potions making. But alas I had no choice but to use only him since the only other Potions master qualified to teach was believed to be dead. However, it is with great pleasure to announce that first through fifth years will be taught by a different Professor while Sixth and Seventh years will remain under the instruction of Professor Snape."

The students murmured in shock, many of the students below fifth year breathed a sigh of relief.

The Headmaster grinned, "I have also heard from our Deputy Headmistress that she has a hard time juggling the Deputy Headmistress job, her duties as Head of House and her teaching of Transfigurations. So I have decided to lighten her load for Transfigurations by hiring an Assistant who will be substituting DADA during the day before, day of and day after the Full moon."

The students wondered aloud who the new assistant will be before quieting, "I have also decided to see if an old system will work to help lighten her load for Head of House duties. You see, until thirty years after my graduation there was an old practice of having a Student Head of House. They would have the same authority of a teacher, however if they were caught abusing their position then many of their privileges would be revoked for the rest of their years at Hogwarts. If found abusing their position they will be dismissed of their duty and replaced, once dismissed they will lose the privilege of Hogsmeade visits, any chance at Head girl or Head boy position as well as their spot on the Quidditch team if they had one." Many of the students who were curious about becoming a Student Head of House lost interest immediately.

After the murmuring died down, many of the other houses glanced at the Gryffindor table wondering which one was selected to be the Student Head of House. "I allowed Minerva to chose who the Student Head of House will be for Gryffindor. I also gave the other three Heads the choice to utilize the position this year but they have declined the option until they see how Gryffindor's Student Head does at the job. This student will be required to be available at all times unless in class then you must go to your head of house. They will be required to take points, assign detentions, supervise detentions if necessary, and also to retrieve the Head of House if a major problem is had. This is an immense duty and honor to be given, and should not be taken lightly." Albus Dumbledore stared down at the students frowning, "I have no doubt that the student that Minerva picked will do an excellent job. Gryffindor students, Minerva will escort you to your common room tonight to show you where the rooms for the Student Head of House will be located."

The Headmaster then blinked, "oh, my I nearly forgot to introduce you new Potions and Transfiguration assistant Professors. May I introduce the new Potions Professor for first through fifth year, Lily Marie Potter. And for the Transfiguration post for fifth through seventh years James Andrew Potter!"

With that the Entrance Hall doors once again opened, and in walked a red haired woman with bright emerald green eyes and a man with messy black hair and hazel eyes wearing glasses. The woman was wearing an emerald green robe hanging open over a black skirt and blue blouse. The man was wearing a black robe hanging open over a pair of skin tight black jeans and a T-shirt saying, 'whose afraid of the big, bad wolf? NOT ME!' He had a smirk on his face. The woman sat down next to Professor Snape and the man sat down next to Professor Lupin.

There was a stunned silence in the hall, before Gryffindor started clapping in welcome, Lily nodded with a small smile on her face while James sat back with a smirk before catching his daughters eye and winking.

Kushina laughed lowly with only Ron, Hermione and Neville hearing her. The Slytherins visibly gaped in shock.

Minerva glanced at the Headmaster who was grinning boyishly in amusement she shook her head fondly. The Headmaster cleared his throat again to quiet the hall, which of course gave their utmost attention. "I have only a few more announcements before I allow the new Professors to speak and you all head to bed. Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of term. Anyone interested in playing for their house teams should contact Madam Hooch. That was my last announcement for the school. Mr. Lupin, Mr. Potter and Miss Potter you may take it from here." With that he sat down and watched as Remus stood up.

Remus cleared his throat and said, "to all those that I had the pleasure of teaching, I'm glad to be back and I must say this, I will never allow the incident that happened at the end of my term of teaching to occur again. James has promised me that if he even thinks I've forgotten to take my potion he will slap me upside the head." Remus joked while glancing at the reclining James who nodded decisively. "Fifth years and above, you will be pleased to note that I will be teaching you all the Patronus charm which is the only known defense against Dementors." With that he sat down.

Lily stood next, "I would like to tell you all that I will be going through the basics with all years until I am satisfied with you all. No matter your house nor how Severus has graded you, you all will be going through the basics. Severus despite his talent in the area of potions is not suited to dumbing things down to where mere mortals can understand the subtle art of potions making." She smiled fondly at the Slytherin's head of house who merely rolled his eyes at her. "I will also warn you all, if you see me in my animagus form in the halls, do not, I repeat do NOT run. As that will set off all of my instincts as a predator, merely stand still or continue walking normally. I will show you my animagus form only this once." She stared down the students before stepping out from behind the staff table.

She stopped in front of the table and shifted smoothly into her animagus form. To the surprise of the students a massive cat stood in front of them, its golden fur having a reddish tint to it, the hall was so silent that all the house tables could hear when Hermione said, "the Panthera Leo Atrox. More commonly known as the American Lion as its fossils are found only in America, both north and south. The American lion is the largest cat ever found."

Most of the students gaped in shock, that was one huge cat.

Lily transformed back into her human form, and retook her seat next to Severus.

James then stood, "first things first, I am considered by Remus' wolf to be its alpha. Therefore I can control it while in my animagus form, second thing: I don't care what you have read in the paper. I have seen my child's memories of the third task and I believe her about what she saw. If you do not believe her, you may of course continue to do so, however, if I catch anyone calling her a liar, I will be taking points." With that he stared at the students to let them know he was serious. "I also will only show you my animagus form once, you probably will only see it during the full moon when I'm keeping Remus company." With that he stepped around the table and halted in front of it. With a deep breath he transformed, the students gaped to see a large deer with a massive rack standing in front of them. After letting the students gape for several minutes, James transformed back into human form and walked around the table to flop back into the chair in between Remus and Lily.

The Headmaster stood once more, "I believe that we can skip the school song this year… We'll leave that for the end of year feast," at that the twins cheered. The Headmaster twinkled down at them, "however it is time for prefects to lead their Houses to bed. So off you trot." He gestured for them to leave.

Minerva got up and said, "Gryffindors follow me!" Gesturing for all students to follow her, she led them out of the Great Hall.

Before they left however, some of them looked over their shoulders to see, Professor Lily Potter talking to Professor Snape. And overheard her as she asked Professor James Potter, "James, do you mind if I speak with Severus for a while?"

James shook his head, "nah, I'm heading back with Remus though. So I'll see you later Lily." With that he gave her a hug and a kiss on the forehead before he ruffled the black dogs fur and said, "keep an eye on these two and make sure they don't brew potions all night, okay Snuffles?" The dog barked in response.

They saw Professor Lupin walk away with Professor James Potter while Professor Snape walked away talking with Professor Lily Potter.

Minerva led the students through the hallways and a couple of secret passages before coming to a halt in front of a portrait of a woman wearing a pink silk dress. "The password is Mimbuius mimbletonia, so I expect you to remember it Mr. Longbottom." Neville smiled good-naturedly at her.

Several of the older students helped the first years into the common room, before Minerva can announce who the Student Head of House is, Seamus pointed at Kushina and said, "where is she sleeping? She can't sleep in our dorm!"

Minerva raised her left eyebrow, "nor do we intend to let her, Mr. Finnigan. After all it would be unseemly to allow a female to sleep in the male dorm. Miss Potter is your new Student Head of House. I chose her because never once in her years at Hogwarts has she shown any signs that she tolerates bullying besides she often keeps the peace between her friends Mr. Weasley and Miss Granger." Minerva then walked over to the stairs and points at the portrait, "no doubt you've often wondered why this blank portrait was allowed to remain. As you can see this portrait is no longer blank, this portrait has always been bonded to the Student Head of House, once the Student Head of House graduates the portrait becomes blank once more. This portrait has always taken the form of someone that the Student Head of House trusts implicitly and with out a single thread of doubt. Miss Potter could you please introduce the guardian of your quarters?"

Kushina nodded and moved up to the portrait, "this is Minato Namikaze. He's an old friend of mine, I've known him since I was eight years old." She then stepped away from the portrait.

Minerva nodded her thanks, "very good, Miss Potter. The password for all of you for this portrait is SOS, Miss Potter tells me that it is a distress signal in the muggle world and thus very appropriate for this portrait. However if the portrait feels that whatever you are attempting to retrieve her for is not of a level that should be handled by a Head then he will refuse to open. He will also refuse to open if she is not inside, however, since they are linked, he will be able to tell you where she is at so long as she is within the grounds of Hogwarts."

She paused to check that the students understood before continuing, "the reason as to why I'm informing you in the common room is because the other three heads and I have decided to test the other houses on their point taking and detention giving. Severus especially wants to know how his prefects are behaving since he discovered this past summer that Mr. Malfoy has lied to him many times in his time here at Hogwarts. As such no one outside of our house is to know about Miss Potter's position until the end of September. Classes do not begin until the fourth, so you are free to do what you want so long as rules are not broken." Minerva glared at Fred and George before turning her gaze to the trio who merely smiled innocently at her.

She snorted in amusement, "Miss Potter will be allowed out of the common room after curfew. She is not required to patrol the corridors but may if she feels like it." Minerva held up a book, "this book is tied to Miss Potter, any point taken from her is recorded in here along with who took the points as well as what for. Detentions are also recorded along with who assigned them and what for. She is exempt from points being taken and earned. Since she is a Head, she is essentially a teacher and teachers are not awarded points. However teachers will award her points in class, they will not take points from her but instead if she misbehaves she will be given detention." With that she nodded her head in satisfaction that they understood, she then turned around and left.

Hermione smiled at Kushina, "goodnight Kushina. I'll see you in the morning!" With that Hermione went up the stairs to the girls dorm.

Ron nodded and went up to the boys dorm.

Kushina raised her eyebrow at the other students who were lingering in the common room, before shrugging and turning to the portrait. "Hello Minato, how have you been?" she asked quietly.

He smiled at her, "fine. It's different to be here, but kind of fun. The other portraits are rather curious about me but they leave me alone when I want peace and quiet." As he spoke he signed yet another document on his desk.

Kushina giggled and said, "that's good to hear. I'd love to chat with you all night Minato but it's been a long day and I'm tired, so please open sesame, my dear Yellow Flash."

He murmured, "but of course my dearest ANBU. Goodnight and sweet dreams."

With that he opened the door and right before it closed Kushina turned and said, "all of you should go to bed as well."

After the door closed Kushina sighed and looked up to see another Minato in the painting above the mantle, this painting was of Konoha not just the Hokage's office but of the entire village. Minato was resting on the wall surrounding the village, he looked over his shoulder at her. "Hello Kushina love. Did you greet my clone?" he asked mischievously.

She smirked at him, "but of course my dearest Minato. However it's been a long day, so I think I'll take a bath and go to bed. But the first thing I need to do is call Dobby here and have him place a few portraits around wherever Naruto lives. I want to check up on him." The portrait nodded, and watched as she called the excitable house-elf to her, "DOBBY!"

The house-elf appeared, "Mistress Shina called for Dobby?" He said with an adoring look on his face.

Kushina leaned down, "yes Dobby. Can I ask you a favor?"

Dobby bounced in place, "oh, of course Mistress Shina! Dobby would be most glad to help you!"

Kushina smiled, "good, but first answer this. Can House-elves go through the barrier surrounding the Elemental countries?"

Dobby frowned while he thought, "they can do it if their master requests it."

Kushina nodded, "that's what I thought. Second question: Can you get through the barrier if I ask?"

Dobby nodded enthusiastically, "yes. Dobby most certainly can! Does Mistress Shina wish Dobby to go through the barrier?"

Kushina nodded slowly, "yes. You see in my previous life I lived in Konoha, in the country of Fire and when I died I left a son behind. I just want to check up on him… So can you go to Konoha and make sure not to be seen by anyone, I need you to place these around my sons place of residence." With that she handed several small portraits of snakes to Dobby after hissing an order to observe without being noticed. "Make sure they can't be seen even by actual snakes, okay?"

Dobby took the portraits from her, "Dobby understands. Make sure no one sees Dobby and make sure no one can see snakes not even other snakes." With that he nodded his head, then paused. "May Dobby clean his place of residence if it is dirty?" he asked anxiously.

Kushina sighed, but nodded knowing that it would both make Dobby happy and give him energy in return. "If there are no meals prepared then you can even cook him several meals to last him a few weeks, just make sure to freeze or put them in the fridge." She knew that Dobby knew what a fridge was since he had spent the summer with her and she taught him how to use a muggle kitchen. Before he popped away she handed him several galleons, sickles and knuts then said, "here if he needs anything buy it with this."

After Dobby popped away to run his errand, Kushina cracked her neck and walked into her bathroom that had a large tub the size of a small pool it was deep enough that she could stand up right and the water reach her chin. It had steps that lead down to the deepest part that she could sit on and just soak in the hot water. She turned a few dials and let the bubbles pour out, the scent of myrrh and pomegranates filled the air. Both scents a nod to her zanpakuto, the myrrh was for Anubis and the pomegranates for Thanatos. As she stepped into the bath, she breathed a sigh of relief and settled down for a long soak.

Dobby was excited, his mistress had entrusted him with a very important assignment. He carefully nosed around, but after thirty minutes he pouted, he didn't know where to start looking for his mistress' son. Then he got an idea, he could look for that faint taint on her, she said that her son now bears her burden perhaps that faint taint is all that was left from the burden. Dobby concentrated and could feel the same taint only stronger coming from an apartment nearby. Dobby frowned and popped over making sure that when he arrived that no one could see, smell or hear him. He saw a young blond boy asleep under orange colored blanket. The apartment was neatly messy, or messily neat, Dobby poked around but could find no evidence of an adult living there.

Dobby frowned, no child should be living alone even if they became adults as soon as they were Genin like his mistress had told him. He couldn't find a head protector anywhere so he knew that the boy wasn't a ninja yet. Dobby nodded decisively, he would place a charm over the child so he wouldn't be disturbed by Dobby and get to work.

Dobby hummed to himself while cleaning the apartment and getting rid of trash, he used his magic to fix broken items and was thankful his mistress thought ahead to give him money as he bought groceries with it. He fixed all of the weapons he found, since his mistress once said that the care of a tool could mean life or death for a ninja. He also made hidden compartments in several places and hid things in them. He forged several peoples writing and wrote that the scrolls hidden within the compartments belonged to whoever found them. He hid scrolls on taijutsu, ninjutsu and genjutsu. He also left several copies of his mistress' sealing scrolls.

He then remembered that his mistress had spoken of several of her diaries, many of them contained her thoughts on her burden of being the Kyuubi's jailer. As well as the one leading up to Naruto's birth, her happiness at being a mother and of her exasperation at her husbands over-protectiveness.

He felt that his mistress' son would find comfort that he had been wanted and desired by both of his parents. As well as the fact that his mother too had once contained the nine tailed demon fox. Before he left he leaned over the boy and patted him lightly on the head, "don't worry little master. Mistress will return someday, she just has to finish her duty first then she'll be free to come back. You'll be very loved… Maybe Dobby can ask mistress if it'd be alright for Dobby to come back and make you more meals next month." He said quietly before popping away. He made sure his mistress' son would be alright, he placed several protections over both the apartment and the boy, if anyone meant him harm then they would quickly find themselves needing to be anywhere but near the boy. It would only work inside the village and outside of exams but it would keep him that little bit more safe.

Dobby popped back to his mistress' quarters to find her asleep, he shrugged, then nodded goodnight to the protector of her quarters.

Before he left though he tidied up her quarters and unpacked her trunk for her, placing her clothes in the armoire and putting her books on the shelves. He placed her quills, ink and parchment at her desk and her communication mirror on her nightstand. He then popped over to Jackal's Lair to clean it and tidy it up.


	15. Chapter 14: Of Swords and a Dragon

Chapter Fourteen: Of Swords and a Dragon

Kushina woke up the next morning to find that her belongings had been put away, she raised her left eyebrow and smiled sardonically, "huh, Dobby must have been in a good mood." She said before climbing out of bed and getting dressed in a pair of black jeans and a t-shirt with the slogan of 'Silence is golden but duct tape is silver, so make my day golden and colour it with silver.'

After she got dressed she opened the portrait to the common room and stepped out. She saw Ron coming down the steps from the boys dorm, after greeting each other they were interrupted by Hermione coming down the girls stairs. She was making her way to join them when she stopped to stare at the common rooms announcement board. A large sign had been put up on it, the sign read:

GALLONS OF GALLEONS!

Pocket money failing to keep pace with your outgoings?

Like to earn a little extra gold?

Contact Fred and George Weasley, Gryffindor common room,

for simple, part-time, virtually painless jobs.

(We regret that all work is undertaken at applicant's own risk.)

"They are the limit," Hermione said grimly, while taking down the sign, which Fred and George had pinned over a poster announcing the date of the first Hogsmeade weekend, which was in October. "Kushina, you've got to talk to them about this. If older years want to do this then they are welcome, but they should only involve those above second year."

Kushina nodded, "alright. I'll talk to them about it." She said as they climbed out of the portrait hole.

As they walked down the corridor, they passed the portraits who were so engrossed in their own conversations that they ignored the trio.

Just as they were about to enter the Great hall, a tall black girl with long braided hair marched up to Kushina. "Hi, Angelina," Kushina said.

"Hi," Angelina said briskly, "good summer?" Then without waiting for an answer, "listen, I've been made Gryffindor Quidditch Captain."

"Nice one," Kushina said, grinning at her; she suspected that Angelina's pep talks might not be as long winded as Oliver's had been, which could only be an improvement.

"Yeah, well, we need a new Keeper now that Oliver's left, plus since Fred and George won't be here next year we had better start training next seasons beaters. We'll have the first years try out as well to see if they have some talent at it. We'll see about getting reserve chasers and a seeker as well, that way if any accidents happen we still have players to play." Angelina explained before she said, "tryouts will be held on Friday at five o'clock. I want the whole team there so we can see how well they will work with the team alright?"

Once Kushina nodded, Angelina smiled at her and departed.

"I'd forgotten Wood had left," Hermione said vaguely while sitting down next to Ron and pulled a plate of toast towards her. "I suppose that it will make quite a difference to the team? Although it is a good idea to have a reserve team to play incase the main players are sick or injured." Hermione commented wryly.

"I suppose," Kushina said while sliding onto the bench opposite of Hermione. "He was a good keeper…"

"Still, it won't hurt to have new blood, will it?" Ron asked nervously as he piled his plate with food.

Kushina nodded while putting her usual breakfast fare on her plate. She placed a small pile of bacon off to the side incase Hedwig came down to the breakfast table to visit, before she dug into her pancakes.

With a whoosh and a clatter, hundreds of owls came soaring through the upper windows. They descended all over the Hall, bringing letters and packages to their owners and showering breakfasters with droplets of water; it was clearly raining outside. Hedwig came swooping in, she had no letter or parcel, she had just come down to visit, as she was sometimes inclined to do. Hermione had to move her orange juice aside quickly to make way for a large damp barn owl bearing a sodden Daily Prophet in its beak.

Kushina didn't even ask why she bothered to still pay for a subscription to the paper. Ever since her father had been found alive the Daily Prophet answered to him on it's publishing not the Ministry. Kushina didn't bother subscribing since she had no interest in the babbling of the idiots in charge of the paper.

Hermione snorted, "they're still going on about how Sirius was thrown in Azkaban without a trial." She then folded the paper and set it aside since Professor McGonagall was making her way down the table and passing out the time tables.

Ron looked it over and gave a small groan, "History of Magic first thing on Monday."

Hermione looked over hers and nodded, "we have Lily right after break, though." She pointed out, "that should be interesting. I wonder how her teaching method will be different from Professor Snape's."

Ron looked it over again, "huh, we have Divination right after lunch followed by DADA with Professor Lupin. That's good news, I wonder what we'll start out with." He glanced at Kushina clearly hoping she'd give them a hint.

Kushina smirked, "what are you looking at me for? I'm not telling." She glanced at the timetable in Ron's hands, "huh, we don't have Dad until Tuesday." At that comment several Gryffindors looked over at her.

Hermione looked up at her before asking, "Kushina, just how are you going to refer to them in class?" Ron looked up from his food, also curious as to the answer. The Gryffindors near them quieted to listen to the answer as well.

Kushina finished her pancakes, and answered while setting her fork beside her plate. "I'll refer to them as Professor Potter and Professor Lupin of course. Outside of class I can refer to them however I want, since we are related but in class I have to refer to them by the honorifics of their station. However the moment that class ends I'm no longer being taught by them and I can refer to Dad as Dad instead of Professor Potter."

"Oh, I see," Hermione commented before standing. "I don't know about you two but I'm going to go double check my summer assignments." With a nod she left the Great Hall.

Ron stared after her before turning to Kushina, "I swear she's obsessed with school work. Mental that one," with that comment he jerked his thumb after Hermione's retreating back.

Kushina smiled at him and shrugged before she said, "yeah, but she's right. We do need to double check our work. I'm sure that Professor Snape and Professor McGonagall will be grading it not our new professors. So come on, you and Hermione can use my rooms to check it over," with that she got up and pulled Ron after her.

He sighed but obediently followed.

Hermione was leaning over her scroll for History of Magic, checking to make sure she had the dates right. While Ron, was staring blankly down at his divination homework, Kushina was adding flourishing touches to her transfiguration essay.

None of them had any homework for Defense Against the Dark Arts, knowing Professor Lupin though all of them figured they would either have a practical lesson or a pop quiz. Kushina looked up from her work and asked, "do you guys want to join Uncle Sear, Aunt Lily, Uncle 'Rus, Dad and Papa on the next full moon?"

Hermione stopped reading through her work and Ron looked up at Kushina, "I wouldn't mind. The next full moon falls on Friday night so we wouldn't have to worry about waking up early for lessons. Sure," Hermione said thoughtfully.

Ron nodded in agreement, "yeah, despite having to follow him to find your Aunt and Dad, it was fun. So sure, we can join them."

With that the discussion was dropped and the trio continued to look over and correct their summer work.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Kushina left her rooms an hour later to discover Fred and George surrounded by fainted first years, as scary as the twins' stories could be she rather doubted that the first years had fainted from anything less than a Weasley twin invention. She quietly walked up behind them and cleared her throat sharply causing them and several people in the common room to jump.

The twins spun around and upon seeing Kushina tapping her left foot with her right eyebrow raised, they started to stutter out an explanation. She held up her left hand for silence and they shut up, "I don't want to hear your excuses. If the older years want to play guinea pig for you that's fine, but first and second years are not to be used at all. I don't care if they sign a waiver saying that they don't mind, this rule is non negotiable. If you break it I'm telling Yumichika about it and setting a hyper Yachiru on both of you as punishment. Understood?" She glared at them both as if to say, 'you had better follow this rule. Or else.'

The twins nodded rapidly, they did not want their financial backer to be angry at them.

She smiled, "good. Now give them the antidote and send them on their way." She patted her fellow red heads on the top of their heads and left the common room.

Fred swallowed, "man is she scary."

George muttered, "I guess now we know why Professor McGonagall chose her to be the Student Head of House." They both shuddered at the thought of Kushina being angry enough to go through with her threat.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Kushina entered the kitchens and asked one of the House elves, "do you know where I can find Dobby?"

The house elf blinked but nodded and pointed to a corner, "he be over there, young miss."

Kushina smiled down at the elf, "thank you."

Ignoring the rapidly blinking house elf, she made her way to the corner that the house elf pointed to. She found Dobby humming to himself while mixing a batter, she smiled while watching him, she waited until he was done mixing before she said, "hello Dobby."

Dobby spun around and flung his arms around her waist, "Mistress Shina! What be you doing down here?" He questioned happily.

She looked bemused but answered, "I just wanted to find out how it went last night. Is he alright?" She asked quietly.

Dobby frowned slightly, "sort of Mistress. Little master be living alone, but he not a Genin yet. He didn't have much healthy food in house so Dobby bought him some and made meals for little master. Since small children don't like vegetables Dobby disguised the veggies. Dobby also hid scrolls around apartment for little master to find, as well as hiding map to mistress' hide out." He looked up at Kushina, "did Dobby do right thing?"

Kushina smiled down at him and nodded, "yes Dobby you did the right thing. What else did you do?" She asked as she sat down on the bench beside him.

He grinned up at her, "Dobby fixed little masters weapons. Dobby remembered mistress saying that if a weapon is well cared for it will last all of its owners life. Dobby placed charm on little master, so long as he is in village no one will harm him, all will find something else to do."

She frowned slightly, "you mean, like the muggle repelling charm? If someone with the intention of hurting him comes near him they will remember that they have something else to do." She questioned adroitly.

Dobby nodded, "yes. But Dobby fixed it to where if little master has to take test on fighting he can still fight. Charm will sense it and act accordingly."

Kushina blinked but nodded, "anything else about the charm I should know about?"

Dobby blinked, "umm, Charm will only last until he be a Genin. Then Charm will wear off. May Dobby go back to check on him next month, Mistress Shina?" He asked with large pleading eyes.

She smiled down at him and nodded, "you may Dobby. I need you to replace the snake portraits next month anyway. They have to be replaced every month so they can give me my report on his health and happiness." With that she stood, "I better let you get back to work."

She patted him on the should and after saying goodbye she left the kitchen. She made her way to the seventh floor and the room of requirement. Along the way she ran into Sirius in his animagus form, "hello, Snuffles. Would you like to join me?" She asked since there were some Hufflepuffs nearby and she didn't want to give Sirius' identity away just yet.

Sirius barked and head butted her left leg, she smiled down at the dog and said, "I'll take that as a yes." She led the way to the Room of Requirement and paced back and forth in front of the tapestry thinking, _**I need a room where I can train with my swords in peace. I need a room where I can train with my swords in peace. I need a room where I can train with my swords in peace. **_After she passed the wall three times a door appeared, she opened it and let Sirius in first.

Once they were inside Sirius transformed back into a man and turned to look at her, "so what are you planning to do in here?" He asked with a grin.

She smirked, "I was planning on training with my zanpakuto alone but… How would you like to spar with me and knock the dust off of your skills?" She asked with a challenging grin on her face.

Sirius smirked at her and said, "you've got a deal. But how am I supposed to get out of my body and fight with you?" He asked curiously before he added, "after all I can't manifest my Nejibana in the living world like you and Kisuke can."

Kushina snorted, "that's easy. Before I got on the train, Kisuke slipped this into my pocket." She held up a glove, Sirius recognized it as a Gokon Tekko, it was a red glove with a dark blue skull marking on it.

Sirius grinned, "good, so I take it that you're going to use that on me and then I use it on you."

She smirked, "right in one Padfoot." She said while putting the glove one and with one motion slammed his soul out of his body. She caught the falling body and thought to the room, _**I need a safe place to leave our bodies while we are training.**_ A nook appeared to her left and she placed Sirius body in the alcove before handing the glove to Sirius.

He smirked at her and shoved his palm against her forehead, her soul was shoved out of her body and he caught it placing it in the second bed in the alcove. Kushina cracked her neck and rolled her shoulders to get any kinks out of her muscles. She asked, "so how do you want to do this? Shall we spar without going into shikai or shall we enter shikai after warming up?"

Sirius stretched his arms and rotated his shoulders to loosen them, "either way is fine with me." He watched as his goddaughter bent backwards and placed her hands on her calves to stretch her back. "How the hell are you that flexible?" He asked while goggling at her.

She smirked, "Aunt Masaki had me take gymnastics as a kid. Even at the Dursley's I never stopped going through the exercises. It actually helps with Quidditch, you see, it keeps my muscles supple and flexible which helps when I'm doing a move that requires me to be able to bend a certain way. Plus it helps with fighting," she added.

Sirius blinked before he shrugged, "I'll take your word on that."

Kushina eyed him amusedly before she ran her left hand down her right arm and said, "come to me, Anubis." One moment her left hand was empty and a Jackal was embossed on her right bracer the next she had a sword in her hand and the Jackal was gone.

Sirius drew his sword out of its sheath and smirked at her before launching into an attack.

She parried it and dropped down to swipe at his legs with her right leg.

He jumped over it and attempted to slice her right shoulder, however she dodged at the last moment causing his blade to slice a deep groove in the floor.

They kept up the spar like that for several minutes before she got a lucky shot in and kicked him in the stomach, sending him flying to the other end of the room. She held her sword out in readiness just in case he came flying back. Which he did, using shunpo Sirius got behind her and swiped her legs out from under her.

She barely recovered from her shock to be able to do a back handspring out of the way of his next attack. They stood five feet away from each other before she spoke, "I think we can take it up a notch don't you?" She smirked while gazing at him levelly.

Sirius snorted but nodded, "yeah, lets kick it up a bit." With that he gripped his sword upside down and began to twirl it while he said, "rankle the seas and skies, Nejibana!" The sword began to glow with a yellow light before elongating into a trident, the trident appeared to be crystalline and water flowed from it. The end of the trident was in a corkscrew or drill shaped end instead of a blunt end, which meant that both ends of the weapon could be used for piercing.

Kushina smirked and held the curved sword in front of her before she said, "raise your army in my defense, Kneel Anubis." With a dark pulse of energy, the sword transformed a guard formed over her hand that had spikes all along it and it became slightly more curved. Hieroglyphs appeared all along the blade, Sirius couldn't tell what they said and he had the feeling that he didn't really want to know either.

And so they continued their spar.

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Two hours later both were panting in exhaustion, Kushina was slightly soaked from the water spewing from Nejibana. Sirius had a couple wounds but most of them were superficial cuts and scratches.

Kushina laughed breathily before she said, "I think we're done for the day."

Sirius wiped the sweat from his forehead and nodded in agreement before he cracked his neck. He then returned his sword to its sealed state before settling back into his body, as he sat up he watched Kushina return Anubis back to the bracer. After she stretched lightly she returned back to her body and gestured for him to precede her out into the corridor. Sirius smirked before transforming into his animagus form and bounding outside.

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Later that night after Ron and Hermione went to bed, Kushina sat up and was going through her family tree that she had the Goblins send her. As she traced her family lines she noticed an odd discrepancy in the Gryffindor line, he had two lines leading linear from his. She frowned in puzzlement, there was never any mention of siblings by any books nor the sorting hat. She tapped her quill against her lower lip before she pulled out the map and checked to see if Albus was still working. He was so she got up and opened the door leading to the common room then opened the door leading from the common room to the hallway.

She didn't meet up with anyone on her way to the headmasters office. She stopped in front of the gargoyle and said, "Honey Buns." As she walked up the spiral staircase she shook her head in amusement at the Headmasters choice of password.

She knocked on the door and heard the Headmaster call out, "come in Kushina!"

As she walked in she noticed that the Headmaster was signing paperwork, "what can I do for you Kushina?" He asked signing the last piece of paper on his desk before looking up at her curiously.

She smiled at him before taking a seat in on of the two chairs in front of his desk, "I was wondering if I could talk to the sorting hat, Headmaster." As she asked that she cocked her head to the left, her golden eyes fixed on his blue ones.

He frowned in thought before glancing over at the hat, "well, would you like to talk to Miss Potter?"

She looked over at the hat, it seemed to stretch and the rip in the brim opened up, "no, I don't mind speaking with her." She then glanced at the Headmaster who nodded at her.

She got up from the chair, walked over to the hat and put it on, she then heard in her mind, _'what was it that you needed to speak to me about?'_

She smiled before replying mentally, _'I was wondering if you knew the names of Lord Gryffindor's siblings?'_

The hat gave a mental blink but answered,_ 'Lord Gryffindor received a letter from each of them just the day before they made me so it was still prominent in his mind the day he helped make me. I don't remember their first names but his sister signed hers with the last name of Uzumaki from Whirlpool and his younger brother signed it Sabaku from Wind. His sister had wrote that she just had a son that she was raising to take her place as head of the clan she had founded. She had also sent him several scrolls on the sealing techniques she was developing. As for his little brother he sent him notice that he had founded a village in the land of Wind that he is calling Sunagakure, as well as having taken the last name: of the Desert, or Sabaku no … Lord Gryffindor had written back that he to had changed his name, since his birth name was unpronounceable by the people of this land he was giving the name of Godric, Griffin of the Moor or Godric Gryffindor. He later told me that his siblings found the name choice amusing.' _Kushina blinked in shock, she never knew that she was related to Kazekages of Suna, nor that Godric Gryffindor was directly related to the Head of the Uzumaki clan of Whirlpool.

'_Huh, I never knew that, well at least I can still claim kinship to Naruto.'_ She thought brightly in happiness.

'_Indeed little lady Gryffindor!'_ The hat commented before asking, _'is there anything else you wish to know?'_

Kushina shook her head, _'no, that was it. Thanks.'_ She then took off the hat and placed it back on the shelf.

"Did you find out what you wanted to know?" Albus asked quietly from behind her.

She looked over her shoulder, "yeah, I did. Thanks for letting me talk to the hat, sir."

Albus smiled at the young woman he had always thought of as a granddaughter, "it was no trouble little one. However school starts the day after tomorrow so you should get ready for it." Kushina nodded and left the Headmasters office and made her way to Gryffindor Tower then into her rooms.

She sat down again at her desk and marked on the family tree on the linear lines leading from Godric, -First Kazekage and -Founder of Uzumaki clan. She then set her quill down and stared at the parchment before sighing. "Dobby, could you come here please?"

Dobby popped into the room behind her, "Mistress Kushina wants something from Dobby?"

"Yes Dobby. Can you take me through the barrier surrounding the elemental countries and back to Hogwarts?" Kushina asked him quietly while writing a letter to Kisuke.

Dobby frowned for a moment, before his expression brightened, "yes, Mistress Shina. Dobby can be doing that."

"Good, after I finish this letter I want you to check on something for me. Understood?" Kushina asked while signing her name with a flourish before she sealed the letter and handed it to Hedwig, "take this to Kisuke and wait for a reply. Alright girl?" Hedwig hooted softly before giving her a light nibble on her finger and took flight.

She then turned around and looked at Dobby, "this is important Dobby. I need you to go to a specific area of a building, can you do that and not have anything detect you?"

Dobby looked puzzled, but nodded, "as long as you be asking me to, Dobby will not be caught." Dobby then poked his forefingers together, "Dobby was wondering if he could ask mistress a question…"

Kushina looked at him in curiosity, "what is it Dobby?"

Dobby glanced up at her and asked, "is it alright if Dobby bonded to little master? And take care of him all the time instead of just once a month? If Dobby was bonded to little master than it would mean Mistress Shina has brought him into the Noir family since Dobby is bound to both Lord and Lady Noir." He explained.

Kushina leaned back in her chair and hummed in thought, "alright. I'll let you bond with Naruto, if he needs any items. Such as food, clothing, weapons, and such you can take the money out of the Noir Vault. Now before you go I want to make sure you won't set off the sensitive alarms on the room." With that she got up and pulled out an old wooden chest from under her bed, she placed it on the desk and opened it. It contained several jars of ink, in various colors, different sizes of paper and a variety of brushes.

She pulled out several sheets of paper, pick up one of the jars of black ink and chose a brush. Dobby watched as she drew symbols on the papers and then placed them at certain spots in an area, she did something to cause them to glow a soft white briefly then fade to normal afterward.

She stepped back after having placed the last one and turned to Dobby, "alright, I want you to pop into the middle of that area. If you can do it without setting off the alarm then I'll let you go check on something for me."

Dobby nodded and quickly popped from where he was to the middle of the papered area. He glanced at his mistress, she had a grin on her face, "excellent. None of the alarms went off, not even the life detecting alarm. I know that they haven't improved them since the last time I saw them because I was the last seal master from Whirlpool to live in the village and after my death no one could craft new seals."

She then clapped her hands together, "Dobby, come here I need to give you the image of the room I want you to go to." Dobby walked up to her, once he stood in front of her she knelt and stared him in the eye. She quickly entered his mind and placed the image of the record room for all ANBU members. "I need you to go check to see if the identity of Ryuu has been taken by another ANBU or if it's still unfilled since my death. Got it," she asked softly.

Dobby nodded and popped away. Kushina sighed and began to put away the seals she just made as well as her seal making kit.

#################################################################

Dobby popped into the room that his mistress gave him the image of. It was dark and smelled somewhat musty, as if no one had entered the room in a few weeks. He frowned, his mistress hadn't told him where to look for the file, she had only given him a name, Ryuu.

As he looked around he noticed that there were animals on all of the boxes, he saw a tiger on one box so he took it down and opened it. Staring out from the box was a mask with the impression of a tiger, and he realized that his mistress didn't need to tell him where to find it. All he had to do was look for the animal that Ryuu was, and since his mistress had told him over the summer that his previous little master's name meant dragon the same as her old ANBU code name.

Dobby bounced in place and clapped his hands with glee, all he had to do was find the one box marked by a dragon and he'd find out if the identity was taken or not. Since the Tiger mask was still in it's box but the box with the dog on it didn't have their mask and it only had a file in it stating that the identity Hound was taken by Kakashi Hatake. If the mask was still in the Dragon box than the identity Ryuu was not taken.

He looked first on the left wall, searching it from the top to the bottom but it wasn't on that one, nor was it on the right wall. Finally he searched the back wall and found it five shelves up and four boxes to the right. He used magic to get it down, and carefully opened the box, he found a mask staring up at him and a folder lying under the mask. He set the mask aside and noticed that on the front of the folder was two stamps, one marked retired and the other deceased. He opened the folder to find a woman who looked very similar to his mistress save the eyes, this woman didn't have the gold eyes that his mistress did. But their first names were the exact same, he shrugged it off and read the file.

**Name: Uzumaki, Kushina**

**Eye Color: Grey**

**Hair Color: Red**

**Sex: Female**

**D.O.B.: July 10, 1958**

**D.O.D.: October 10, 1985**

**Country of Birth: Whirlpool**

**Spouse: Minato Namikaze**

**Rank: Jounin **

**Clan: Uzumaki**

**ANBU Member Name: Ryuu**

**Notes: The ANBU Name of Ryuu has been retired for good after the death of it's only owner. Mask will be held in trust for her only child and will be given after said child reaches 17 years old or the rank of Chuunin.**

Dobby blinked down at the papers, well it would seem that his mistress didn't need to worry as no one had taken her old identity of Ryuu since it was retired. He copied the papers and mask then placed both originals back into the box, after which he placed the box back onto the shelf. After erasing all evidence of him being in there he popped back to his mistress' rooms.

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While Dobby was searching for her old identity, Kushina was making a new set of ANBU armor. Thankfully she had all the supplies needed to make her arm guards with built in claws on the fingertips, after she finished the arm guards she built the chest armor and leg armor. Once she finished the armor she debated to herself whether it would be wise to make her mask again or wait until Dobby had confirmed that no one was using her old ANBU name. As she debated to herself she rubbed her upper right arm where her old tattoo was, she shook her head, no she'd wait until Kisuke got his memories of his life as Minato back before she got it redone.

She nodded decisively, yes that would be best after all, he was not only her husband but her Hokage. And she was his most trusted ANBU, she had only been forced to take a leave from ANBU when she had been pregnant for five months. And even then it had taken Minato two weeks to convince her to take the leave instead of him ordering her off of ANBU duty. She wondered how Mikoto and Fukaku were or if they had to implement her escape plan for their clan. She hoped they didn't have to because that meant that they might have had to leave their youngest son behind.

Just as she murmured, "stay safe, my old friends." Dobby popped in behind her, she glanced over her shoulder at him, she saw that he was holding a folder and her old mask. She raised an eyebrow at the mask, but asked with a nod toward the mask, "I take it your mission was successful then?"

Dobby nodded enthusiastically, "oh yes! Dobby brought you a copy of folder and mask in box. Dobby be leaving the originals, Dobby looked through two boxes and before finding yours. Dobby found tiger mask in it's box but Dog mask was gone, according to file in Dog box a man by Kakashi Hatake has the identity of Hound." Dobby cocked his head to the side when his mistress spat her mouthful of tea out when she heard his last sentence. She turned disbelieving eyes on Dobby.

"WHAT! Why did the Hokage allow Kakashi to become an ANBU? Is whoever in charge over there insane!" Kushina exclaimed in shock.

Dobby frowned, "does Mistress know this Kakashi?"

Kushina snorted while murmuring a cleansing charm, "of course I know him. My husband in that life was his Jounin Sensei, so you could say that I ended up adopting him when I married Minato." She shook her head at the thought of her little scarecrow becoming an ANBU. She paused for a moment before she laughed sadly, "then again it would make sense. Kakashi lost me and Minato that night, he probably threw himself into his missions to mourn us. Silly little Scarecrow." She smiled sadly but fondly at the memories of Kakashi after Obito's death, he had thrown himself into the war with a vigor that couldn't be denied. He had used a version of his Chidori to save Gai Maito's life from a Raiton jutsu. That version of the Chidori was later called the Raikiri, or Lightning Edge, by the enemies who had seen him use the move.

Dobby looked at her oddly, "Scarecrow, Mistress Shina?"

Kushina laughed but explained, "Kakashi means Scarecrow, and his last name Hatake means Field." She grinned at him, "irony, you got to love it. The King only knows what his mother was thinking naming her son that." She looked down at the slightly confused house elf, "don't worry Dobby. I'm just remembering a few things that happened back then."

Dobby nodded hesitantly but asked, "why did you want me to go check the file, Mistress Shina?"

Kushina picked up the mask of a snarling dragon, "because when I go to Konoha I plan to go as an ANBU. If I know anything, Sarutobi honored my Minato's last wish as best as he could, so my son should be used to seeing an ANBU on occasion."

Dobby's eyes widened in comprehension, "ooh, I get it. If you go as Ryuu then if he wakes he won't be too startled to find you there. Young master will assume that you were watching over him." Dobby clapped his hands in glee while bouncing.

Kushina nodded bemused at his antics, "exactly. You can go Dobby, I have to get to bed, you can take me to Konoha tomorrow night. I have the funny feeling that Kenpachi is going to show up tomorrow morning wanting a spar." With that she grinned at the bemused house elf, "you might want to warn the others or prepare a large breakfast yourself for the two of us after our morning spar."

The young house elf beamed at his Mistress, "Dobby will be doing so Mistress Shina. Do you want Dobby to be starting as soon as your Hermy's Ken-Ken shows up?" Kushina's lips twitched and she didn't know whether to hope Hermione never heard Dobby call Kenpachi that or hope she did so she could take a picture of her face.

"You can start breakfast as soon as we begin our spar, I don't think it should take more than an hour or two for us to finish it." Kushina said thoughtfully after she had calmed down from her amusement at Dobby's name for Kenpachi.

Dobby nodded and popped out of the room, Kushina shook her head fondly at his antics before putting away the ANBU outfit and mask. She then tidied up the room before she banked the fire, changed her clothes and turned out the lights to go to bed. Before she fell asleep she thought, _sleep tight Naruto, sweet dreams my son._ She then turned over on to her left and murmured aloud, "don't stay up all night, Kisuke."


	16. Chapter 15: Blood, Death, and a Fox

Chapter Fifteen: Blood, Death, and a Fox

While the rest of the Gryffindors at breakfast stared bleary-eyed into their food, a few were glaring at the chipper Kushina, while Hermione was amused and Ron was eating, the two had gotten used to her being chipper in the morning. You would have thought that after four years of having her do this on several occasions the rest of their house would be used to it already, but apparently not…

However something happened to cause everyone in the Great Hall to jolt awake, the doors slammed open revealing a man with long hair arranged in spikes tipped with bells standing in-between them. His left eye had a scar running across it from his hairline to the bottom of his jaw, he had a eye patch over his right eye and he was wearing a sleeveless white coat that had black diamond on the bottom edge. He had a vicious grin on his face and said with a gravelly voice, "I finally found you," he stared at Kushina with a single golden eye, "Kushina."

The teachers who had yet to meet him stared in shock, but they turned their gazes to Kushina when all she said in reply to him was, "good morning, Kenpachi. I was wondering when you were going to show up." As she spoke she leaned back and flashed an impish grin at the large man.

Then to everyone's surprise a pink haired little girl popped up over his shoulder, "hello, Pretty-Pretty! Do you mind playing with Ken-Chan?" She cocked her head cutely to the right as she gazed at Kushina.

Kushina got up from her seat and walked over to the duo, "no, Yachiru, I don't mind playing with Kenpachi. I sparred with Kaien yesterday to help knock the dust off of his skills but he's no where near Kenpachi's level." If anyone had been watching the head table they would have seen that the black dog at Severus' feet appeared to be pouting.

As she was speaking with them, Albus looked up and after she finished speaking, "why don't the two of you use the Room of Requirement." He suggested calmly, as he spoke the students and teachers that hadn't seen how much more relaxed the two were after sparing gaped at him in shock. He then beamed, "I hope you don't mind an audience since none of us have seen the two of you playing together before."

Kenpachi looked up at the old man who unlike the Captain-General actually seemed to have a sense of humor. "I have no objections to having our spar be watched." Kenpachi looked down at the his red haired sparring partner, "do you have any, Kushina?"

Kushina smirked up at the headmaster, "no objections whatsoever." Her golden-green eyes glinted in amusement as she quipped, "besides, this way no one can say they weren't warned about what I can do if sufficiently irked enough." The grin she gave the Hall was just as vicious as Kenpachi's was when he entered the hall. She then gestured for Kenpachi to follow her and she led him to the seventh floor to the tapestry of a man trying to teach Trolls the ballet. She paced in front of it three times before a door appeared on the opposite wall of the tapestry, she opened the door and gestured for Kenpachi and Yachiru to proceed her.

The students who had followed the trio gaped in shock, Fred and George blinked before they turned to each other and asked each other in chorus, "didn't that used to be a cleaning closet?"

Albus laughed from behind the twins, "it becomes whatever you require of it. Hence the name of 'Room of Requirement.' That is why I suggested it for Kenpachi and Kushina's playtime activities." The older years goggled at their headmaster for his odd phrasing for Kenpachi and Kushina's sparring.

Hermione and Ron shoved a pair of gaping seventh year Ravenclaws out of the way and walked into the room. It was now the size of two of the Quidditch World Cup stadiums put together and had seating all along the perimeter. After several moments of hovering outside the room, the rest of the student body followed. Hermione and Ron were already making their way to the seating when a pink blur shot from the field up to Hermione. Yachiru perched herself on her shoulder and said loud enough for the teachers and twins who were among the last to enter the room to hear. "Ken-Chan said I should stay with Ka-Chan until he's done playing with Pretty-Pretty!"

Ron snickered at the nickname that Yachiru had given Hermione, he had asked Kushina what it meant since Ikkaku and Yumichika had given the pink haired child such a look when she first called Hermione that. She had snorted and told him, that translated it meant something similar to Mama. His friend was being called mother without even knowing it, yeah he found that rather funny, especially since Hermione had a crush on Kenpachi Zaraki, Yachiru's adopted father.

The teachers overheard Kenpachi and Kushina talking, Kushina asked, "so how's Ichigo doing?"

Kenpachi snorted, "he's fine. The way Kuchiki-Hime is fussing you'd think he's the one pregnant." Kenpachi gave her a wicked smile, "though the tongue-lashing he gave the Kuchiki clan council was heard all the way at the first division." Kenpachi snickered lightly, "that was rather funny to hear since all of us captain were at the first division that day. The only reason Kuchiki-Hime wasn't there was because the Clan council demanded his presence among them that day. So off he went." Kushina looked amused at Kenpachi's explanation for Ichigo's condition.

Kushina raised her left eyebrow at him, "'Hime?' You call Byakuya Kuchiki, Head of the Kuchiki clan, Kuchiki-Hime? And you are not turned into sushi?" She asked ludicrously, she then gave him an odd look, "and just what do you mean by fussing anyway?"

Kenpachi smirked at her, "why shouldn't I call him Hime? He certainly acts enough like a princess to me. As for the fussing," Kenpachi snorted and shook his head before continuing, "as for the fussing… He keeps trying to pick up things for him, keeps hovering around, doesn't want him to spar, and he's the only one panicking when Ichigo disappears into the Rukongai for a few hours to see the Shiba family." Kenpachi looked disgusted at Byakuya's fussing over one of his favorite sparring partners.

Kushina laughed, "well he is a first time parent. The only reason that Ichigo has yet to panic is that he's watched his mom go through a pregnancy with twins, so he knows what he's capable of until a certain point. He'll have to stop doing certain things earlier than a woman but still, a woman can work up until she goes into labor anyway. The only reason he'd have to go on bed rest is if he's having a difficult pregnancy." She explained in an off-hand tone.

As the two were speaking the students and teacher had taken their seats in the stands, the teachers had chosen to sit just behind and above Kushina's friends. To the Slytherin's shock and disbelief, Astoria and Daphne Greengrass made their way to Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Luna, Neville and the twins' side, the girls sat down next to Hermione and Astoria was talking quietly with her. Even by just sitting next to them the Greengrass girls had declared that they stood with them even if their house chose to go against them. By them sitting with Kushina's friends they had declared that the Greengrass heirs stood by the Potter family and would hear no insult to their name.

Kenpachi glanced around then commented, "well everyone seems to have finally settled down, so lets get started." With that he unsheathed his sword and charged at Kushina, who merely grinned and dodged his attack.

As she dodged she called out, "to my side Thanatos!" With that a sword appeared in her hand and she spun to attack Kenpachi, just grazing his cheek with the tip. As she sliced his cheek open Kenpachi swiped his sword at her stomach. She did a back handspring out of the way while saying, "first blood to me." With that the watchers heard a soft chime and looked up to see a board with Kenpachi and Kushina's names on it with a single point under Kushina's name.

Unknown to most of the watchers both fighters were moving slowly so that the watchers could actually see what they were doing. They weren't so much sparing as they were showing off, much like how a certain pair of founders had once been.

After several minutes of play between the two, they got serious and Kushina called out, "from wind and sand, arise Anubis!" And to the shock of most of the room a second sword appeared, this one like the first was rather plain in appearance. To the Slytherin's shock Kushina was wielding them as if she had been using them for most of her life, which unknown to them she had.

During the time before she had called her second blade, she had scored three more hits on Kenpachi who had only managed to hit her two times so the score was four to two in Kushina's favor. This time it was Kushina who lunged at Kenpachi who merely moved to the side however Kushina merely slid around and struck him from behind. Normally such a move would be seen as dishonorable, but the two had sparred together so often they knew each other's moves almost by heart. Ichigo once said that if they ever ended up on the same battlefield fighting the same foe they would decimate their enemy while the enemy would be believing that there was no way that two people who fought so much could ever work together so easily.

So while many of the purebloods in the room raised their eyebrows at such an obvious display of dishonor, Kenpachi merely laughed while he had spun around and slammed his sword against both of hers. He had then grinned down at her, "finally starting to fight dirty Kushina?" He asked playfully.

She had leapt backwards with a laugh, "of course Kenpachi, you love it when I play dirty. Reminds you of your days in the Rukongai after all, besides the day I can catch you off guard and not be in Shikai is the day you need to retire." She shouted playfully at him, while he grunted in agreement.

Astoria smirked down at her friend, "well, she seems to be having fun." She commented quietly to her sister.

Daphne was gaping in shock, she then turned wide eyes to Ron when he said, "of course, the two of them have been sparring since July. Kenpachi had wanted to spar with Kushina's cousin Ichigo but he had no interest in sparing with Kenpachi so Kushina volunteered to be his partner for the day. They ended up having so much fun with each other they decided to become permanent sparring partners."

The teachers raised their eyebrows in synchronization without realizing it and those who had seen it snickered. Minerva leaned over to Severus and asked, "is that true Severus?" The green eyed woman stared intently at her younger collogue.

Severus smirked while he petted the black dog sitting at his feet with its tongue lolling out of its mouth panting. He nodded then replied, "yes, Kushina later told me that the only other people to give her that much of a challenge was her teachers from when she was learning how to use her sword. Her Fiancé is also one of the few people who can give her a challenge." He glanced down at the impromptu battlefield where he saw Kushina laughing as she dodged an attack from Kenpachi, she then attacked him. They briefly locked swords, while their swords were locked together Kushina leaned over and whispered something in Kenpachi's ear that caused him to turn a bright red.

He quickly kicked her away from him and swiped at her with his sword. However all she did in response was to laugh and dodge the attack. It was almost as if the kick hadn't phased her at all. She called out, "I'll take that as 'Yes, I like her very much!' Shall I?" Kenpachi glared at her again and growled before attacking, the two were moving at a slightly faster pace than before.

Hermione leaned forward and murmured to Astoria, "I wonder what made Kenpachi blush that much."

Yachiru giggled from her seat in Hermione's lap, "Pretty-Pretty was probably teasing Ken-Chan about a certain someone." Hermione frowned lightly and thought to herself, _I wonder who it is that they were talking about._ Unknown to Hermione jealously flashed in her eyes at the thought of Kenpachi liking someone that wasn't her.

Ron glanced over at his friend in time to see the look cross her face and thought to himself, _I can't believe she doesn't realize it yet, but she's getting jealous of herself._ As he thought that he snickered lightly. Hermione shot him a questioning look, he shrugged before giving her a hand sign that Kushina had taught the two of them along with Neville during fourth year, that told her it was just an odd thought. She smiled fondly at him.

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As their swords crossed a wicked thought had went through Kushina's mind and she had leaned forward to whisper in Kenpachi's ear. "So what's this I hear about you liking a certain brown haired, brown eyed woman by the name of Hermione?" Her golden eyes had then gleamed wickedly as Kenpachi blushed and glared at her in response.

Kenpachi kicked her in the stomach about three inches below the ribs and sent her flying back ten feet, he then swiped at her with his sword. Kushina had nonchalantly dodged his attack while laughing and called out loud enough for everyone to hear, "I'll take that as a 'Yes, I like her very much!' Shall I?"

Kenpachi merely glared at her again before attacking her at a slightly faster pace then they were using before. Their spar had been ongoing for the past thirty minutes and so far the score stood at five to three, Kushina was still leading by two points but both had scored a hit recently.

They stood fifteen feet apart and weren't even the slightest bit out of breath. A fact which amazed many of the pureblood students, if any of them had been sword fighting at that same pace and for that long they would be exhausted.

Kushina smirked at Kenpachi before she said, "how about we step this up a notch?"

Kenpachi grinned at her viciously, "sure, why not?" He said before giving a laugh that sent chills running down most of the students spines.

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Astoria leaned forward and asked Hermione, "just what do they mean? I mean by saying 'Step it up a notch' just what exactly does Kushina and that man mean?" She glanced at her other Gryffindor friend.

The students nearby also listened in expecting for Hermione to answer but it was Yachiru who answered their question. "Ken-Chan and Pretty-Pretty were just warming up. They weren't seriously sparing yet. Now though Kenny and Pretty-Pretty are going to enter Shikai and really spar with each other. You might want to pay attention to the screens instead of the field, Ken-Chan and Pretty-Pretty will be moving too fast for you to see with your eyes." She giggled again at the looks on everyone's faces at her remark, she then pointed down at the field.

Everyone around her turned back toward the field in time to see Kushina as she held up one of her swords, "return to the winds and sands from whence you came, Anubis." With that she tossed the sword in the air and as it fell tip first toward her right forearm. All of the students gasped thinking they were going to witness Kushina's arm being pierced by the sword but instead the sword disappeared into thin air.

The more observant among them noticed that a Jackal appeared on the bracer on her right arm. She then smirked and held the other sword up and as she tossed it in the air said, "fold thy wings, and sheath thy sword, Thanatos." This time the sword fell tip first to her left arm, once again it disappeared without harming its master. However this time a black bird holding a scythe appeared on the bracer not a Jackal.

The students were confused, how were they going to step it up a notch when Kushina had put away her swords. To their surprise she placed her hands with the palms together and slid her feet to where they were shoulder width apart. She then smirked at Kenpachi and cried out, "as they have sown so let us reap, bow to me and submit. My dark ones!"

The students and Professors covered their eyes when a large explosion of power burst from Kushina and she disappeared from sight, concealed by the dust brought about by the explosion. As the dust cleared they all could see glimpses of black feathers but it wasn't until the dust had completely dissipated that they could see just what the black feathers belonged to.

Kushina stood in front of Kenpachi, she was wearing close fitting pants and a shirt that had no cloth along the arms, shoulders and entire back except for a small two inch wide stripe right at the small of her back. The pants were black in coloration while the shirt was blood red with black markings on it, it had a set of scales with a feather on one side and a heart on the other. Behind the set of scales was a large gate that was partially open, the design was in black on the front of the shirt and the students who paid attention to muggle mythology gaped in shock. This was due to the fact that in Egyptian mythology when your soul was sent to the underworld your heart was judged against the feather of truth, while in Greek mythology you had to pass through the gates of the underworld that was guarded by Cerberus, the three headed hound of Hades.

Of course it wasn't just her clothing that made them gape, they noticed that she was no longer wielding swords instead she was wielding a pair of scythes connected by chains. The chains leading from the short handled scythes had a set of bars that had chains connecting them to another set of bars. The first set of bars appeared to be attached somehow to her bracers the one on her left bracer had the black bird etched into the metal while the right had the Jackal etched into it. The second set of bars were balanced on her shoulders, they had no animal etched into them instead one had Egyptian hieroglyphics, the other had Greek lettering on it.

If any of the students had been able to read the languages the etchings would have spelled out, _**I am Thanatos and I will kill all who dare to harm my Mistress. **_While the Egyptian one spelled out, _**I am Anubis, I am the Jackal of the desert and any whom dare to harm my Mistress will face my Army!**_ But none there could read what it said so they remained clueless over the warning that the bars held for those who would dare to harm what the two Zanpakuto called their Mistress.

Of course the change that caused most to gape, as well as what made James and Remus realize just what their daughter had meant by her tattoos being more then claim markings from her Zanpakuto. Sprouting from her back was a pair of large black feathered wings, tucked underneath the wings and resting against the small of her back was the chain that connected the second bars to one another. It didn't seem to be interfering with the wings movements at all, she wasn't flapping them but they were moving slightly as if she was simply restless and anxious to get started again.

Kenpachi grinned at the appearance of the scythes and Kushina gestured at him to get on with it. Kenpachi laughed lowly as he placed the tip of his sword on the ground and drew a circle with it. He said as he did so, "quench your thirst, Sekhmet!"

To everyone's surprise they heard a low rolling growl and Kenpachi's sword changed slightly. The hilt remained much the same but the color of the wrapping had changed to blood red and the blade itself had once more become pristine in appearance. To the students and Professors surprise he turned his head to the right and said while looking over his shoulder, "well, are you ready to have fun, Sekhmet?"

They all heard a husky chuckle and then a woman replying, "but of course my warrior." With that they saw a lion stalk out of the shadows, as it all but purred in delight the lion transformed into a golden skinned woman with bright amber eyes. As she gazed at Kushina, she grinned and waved before she called out, "greetings Lord Anubis of the Jackals."

They then heard a snort from Kushina's side of the battlefield and two men appeared by her side. One man had wings almost identical to Kushina's and the second was a man with tanned skin, longish black hair and golden eyes. The golden eyed man nodded at the woman beside Kenpachi and called out, "greetings to thee, Lady Sekhmet." He then raised an eyebrow at her and commented lightly, "I should have realized that you had chosen him the first time that we had crossed our blades."

The woman gave a sultry laugh and replied, "yes you should have." She then walked to stand in front of Kenpachi and raised her hand to his cheek, "he is after all, very much like myself. Is it any wonder that I had chosen him as mine," she questioned quietly while glancing over her shoulder at the pair of men lounging by Kushina. Only Anubis was standing while Thanatos was sitting on the ground with his forearms laying across his knees and his chin resting on his left wrist.

Kenpachi smiled down at her fondly, before he said, "I think Kushina and I should start the rest of our spar." She smirked up at her wielder and disappeared into the sword at Kenpachi's side.

Anubis nodded to Kenpachi then disappeared into thin air, while Thanatos stood up fluidly and arched his back, flared his wings, then nodded to his Mistress before he too disappeared.

Kushina smirked at Kenpachi before she suddenly had thrown her left scythe at him, he however, had merely dodged the attack with a grin and raced towards her, just as he was fifteen feet away from her, she jerked the chain causing the thrown scythe to barrel back to her and was flying straight toward Kenpachi's unprotected back, he dodged at the last minute. Kushina's eyes widened at the dodge and barely dodged out of the way in time to avoid his attack from her right side. She threw herself into a side roll and glanced backwards to find him grinning at her, she gave a light laugh, "looks like you've learned from the last time we spared Kenpachi." She called back to him, while keeping an eye on his movements.

He chuckled lowly then nodded, "yeah, I asked a few others to help with my techniques. You pointed out a glaring hole in my attack methods, I may be good at frontal and close quarter combat but I suck at ranged combat." He said while gesturing sharply with his sword.

She grinned at him, "well that's good. Aizen won't expect you to change your fighting habits, after all to him and several others you aren't a very smart man." She sneered in derision, "idiots, just because you prefer an uncomplicated life doesn't mean you're an idiot." With that comment she rolled her eyes.

She then cracked her neck and with a wicked grin gestured for him to come at her with everything he had. Kenpachi obliged her request and attacked with glee.

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Everyone in the stands were gaping in shock, while Hermione, the Weasley siblings, and the Professors belonging to the Order were bemused at the fight between the two combatants.

The spar continued for another hour and a half before Yachiru pouted and said, "oh pooh. Kenny's gonna have to stop playing soon."

Hermione glanced down at the pink haired child that she had become very fond of, "why is that Yachiru?" She asked while gently brushing the pink bangs out of Yachiru's eyes.

Yachiru blinked up at the brown eyed girl, "cause Kenny promised he'd be back at a certain time and if we leave in the next fifteen minutes we should make it on time. But if we don't leave then we'll be late and Kenny won't be allowed to come back for five months to play with Pretty-Pretty." Yachiru pouted again before jumping out of Hermione's lap and leaping down the stands to the field, she then jumped on Kenpachi's shoulder.

Kenpachi stopped in his tracks and looked up at his adopted daughter, "what is it Yachiru?" He asked gruffly.

She grinned at him and said, "sorry Ken-Chan but you're going to have to stop playing with Pretty-Pretty."

He scowled at her, "you mean it's already that time?" he asked in a disappointed tone. Yachiru nodded and patted Kenpachi on the head, Kenpachi scowl deepened. "And here I was hoping to keep going for a while more," he commented before he sheathed his Zanpakuto. As he sheathed it the hilt and blade transformed back into its nicked and beat up form. He then looked up at Kushina who raised an eyebrow at her sparing partner, "I'm afraid we'll have to cut this short, I've got to get back before the Captain-General sends someone after me and Yachiru."

She nodded, "understandable. When are you going to be able to come back?" She asked curiously.

Kenpachi snorted, "if I get going in the next fifteen minutes, I'll be back next week. Why?" He looked up at her with curiosity in his only visible eye, the other was covered up by his eye patch as usual.

As Kushina was cracking her neck and had popped her spine, she flicked her wrists sending both scythes flying upward and let them fall toward her bracers. As they fell down she said, "return from whence you came, my Dark Ones." As they hit the bracers the scythes disappeared the chains disconnecting from one another and they followed the scythes. She then looked up at Kenpachi, "it's rather simple. If you want I can open a Senkaimon for you." She said nonchalantly, while she dusted off her pants and shirt.

Kenpachi blinked but then shrugged before he said, "sure. How the hell do you open a Senkaimon like that anyway?" He asked while he cracked his neck and rolled his shoulders to get any lingering tension out of them.

Kushina had shrugged, "I have no clue. Thanatos isn't saying a word about it either, and none of the myths surrounding Thanatos state any mention of an ability to open doorways to the realm of the Dead." She had then commented wryly, she sounded almost annoyed at that.

Kenpachi snickered while watching as she drew her right hand down her left arm while she said, "come to my side, Thanatos." With a flash of light, a sword appeared in her right hand and she smiled fondly down at it before she said, "spread thy wings and bare thy blade. Defend me Thanatos." As she cried that out, she had held the sword up and sliced through the air in a diagonal movement from the right to the left. As the blade sliced through the air it transformed into a scythe, the scythes handle was in a serpentine shape. The blade of the scythe was being held by the skull and forelimbs of the animal, while the main portion of the handle was made up of the vertebra of it.

He raised his eyebrow, "how come you've never fought me with that form of his?" Kenpachi asked peevishly while he crossed his arms and glared at her.

Kushina snickered, "simple Kenpachi. You never asked me to go into Shikai with just one of my Zanpakuto, the Shikai I've been using against you is the combined one of my Zanpakuto." She pointed out before turning away from the sulking captain and sliced the blade through the air. To the surprise of the students and Professors a set of doors appeared and opened, Kushina gestured for the pair to go through. As they left she called out, "I'll see you both next week for our next spar."

Yachiru waved cheerfully at Kushina, the Weasley siblings, the Greengrass sisters and Hermione, she called out, "bye bye Pretty-Pretty, Ka-Chan."

Hermione waved back with a bemused smile on her face and called out, "I'll see you both next week. Try not to terrorize anyone Kenpachi," she chided the tall, rough man.

Kenpachi paused and said while looking over his shoulder, "I make no promises, but I'll try not to." He then stepped through the Senkaimon and disappeared.

The Senkaimon followed shortly after and Kushina put away her scythe, before walking up to Hermione and clapping her on the shoulder, "don't worry Hermione. At least he said he'd try not to terrorize anyone." She said cheerfully before walking out of the room.

Most of the students numbly followed her and after a while began discussing just how the hell they did what they did. For the rest of the day no one saw Kushina at all, when the guardian of her quarters was asked he revealed that she was in her rooms and had asked that she, please not be disturbed unless it was a drastic emergency. The rest of Gryffindor house decided amongst themselves that they would be good and make sure she wasn't disturbed that night.

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Kushina leaned backwards and thanked the King that she escaped the Room of Requirement before the rest of the students had come out of the shock of realizing just how bad it would be to piss her off. She pulled out her ANBU uniform and slowly put it on, she had the most unique uniform since she had been the head of the ANBU units. She had been the only ANBU to be fully trusted by the Hokage and no one ever doubted her loyalty to the Hokage. She wore the same pants as everyone else but her top was different, it had no sleeves nor a back, however it was a turtleneck, it was much like her Shinigami top but it was made of a different material.

She looked down at her arm where normally the tattoo signifying her place among the ANBU was located but since she was reincarnated it was gone. She had decided against getting it again until her Kisuke remembered his life as her Hokage and gave it to her himself. She was using a genjutsu instead, she then put the clawed gloves on her hands and buckled them around her upper arms just below where the tattoo was positioned. She then strapped on her kunai holster as well as a Shurikin pouch, she then made sure she had all of her explosive tags as well as making sure she could still summon her Cheetahs.

As she went through the motions of summoning, she thought to herself, _I hope this works._ As she thought that she slammed her hands into the ground and with a poof of smoke a cheetah stood in front of her, it looked at her quizzically. It then asked, "who are you? And how did you summon me? Our last summoner hid our contract scroll most carefully." As it spoke it stared into her eyes.

She smiled down at the cheetah, "oh, come now, Mikali. Surely you aren't saying you don't recognize me?" She asked playfully before flicking the cheetah on the forehead with her finger.

The cheetah stared at her in shock, only one woman ever dared to do that to him. "Lady Kushina!" As he stared at her, she giggled before she nodded. He gaped at her, "but…How?" he asked goggling at her in amazement.

She sat down on the bed before patting beside her, Mikali jumped up on the bed and laid down beside her. "It's a long story old friend, shortly after myself and Minato died, we appeared before the Shinigami King. He asked a favor of myself and Minato, in return for us doing him this favor we would be allowed to return to Konoha and our son. Minato's memories were suppressed and he was reincarnated as Kisuke Urahara. Kisuke is a bit of a mad scientist, sort of how Minato was with Seals."

Kushina explained before she continued, "I, on the other hand, was asked to stay by the King's side as part of his guard. You see we had been sent back into the past about two hundred years before the Kyuubi attack on Konoha. I was later promoted to second in command of the King's Guard, the Head of the King's Guard was a woman by the name of Hisana, Hisana had a younger sister named Rukia. Hisana was later asked by the King to go to the Seireitei to keep an eye on a Shinigami by the name of Aizen Souske, she did as he bade only asking to take her baby sister with her. He allowed it, of course, she was the best Head of the Guard he had, she had served him loyally for many years."

She looked over at her friend to see if he was following her explanation when she saw he was she continued. "Shortly after arriving in the Rukongai, Hisana lost track of her sister, Hisana searched everywhere but couldn't find her at all. She later met a man by the name of Byakuya Kuchiki, who courted her and married her. She later died from an illness that wasn't natural, her last wish before she died was that her husband not give up searching for her little sister. He agreed to keep up the search and to not tell Rukia that his dead wife was her older sister. He found her only a year later, he kept his promise and never told Rukia that his deceased wife was her sister. Hisana was brought before the King shortly before she was to be reincarnated, he told her that she would always be reincarnated into a family that never forgot their past lives unless their memories had been erased."

Once again she checked to make sure that her old friend was following her, "she was reincarnated as Regulus Black, Regulus died at the age of seventeen and was promptly reincarnated as Ichigo Kurosaki. My current reincarnations older cousin," she ended quietly.

The cheetah blinked before asking, "so what favor did you have to do for the King?"

Kushina snorted, "I am supposed to make sure that the soul known as Tom Marvolo Riddle is brought before the King for judgment. Once I have done that I can return to Konoha with Minato at my side." She ended with a determined note to her voice.

The large Cheetah snorted but nodded, "very well, Lady Kushina. Is there anything you wish from us?" He asked curiously.

She frowned before turning to him, "I don't suppose a few of you would mind keeping an eye on my son. He now carries my burden," she explained sadly.

The cheetah hissed in shock, "your burden?" He asked before he gave a decisive nod, "yes, I will gather a few volunteers and watch over the little one. Is there anything else?" He asked while getting up and jumping off the bed.

She nodded, "yes, I will be having someone look after Naruto as well. I'll call him here so you can get his scent. DOBBY!" She called out.

Dobby popped into the room, and gaped at the large cheetah before snapping his gaze to Kushina. "Mistress Shina called for Dobby?"

Kushina smiled at the house elf, "yes, Dobby I'd like you to meet Mikali, Mikali meet Dobby the House Elf. He'll be looking after Naruto's physical needs, he'll cook, clean and generally look after him. Alright?"

Mikali snorted but walked over to Dobby and sniffed him, taking in the house elf's scent. Dobby looked at Kushina, "what is he doing, Mistress Shina?" He asked with large rounded eyes that seemed far bigger than usual.

Kushina chuckled lightly, "he's taking in your scent. He'll probably rub against you to plant his scent on you so you're marked as part of their group. Since he and a few volunteers will be protecting and watching out for Naruto, they'll need to know your scent. When he plants his scent on you he'll take some of yours onto him and he'll let the others catch it from him so they know not to hurt you." Dobby looked at her oddly but allowed the Cheetah to rub against him without complaint.

After Mikali got Dobby's scent and had rubbed his scent onto Dobby, Kushina dismissed him to tell the others about her orders. She then turned to Dobby and commanded him to take her to her son. He had her grip his shoulder and popped into Naruto's apartment, he had made sure that no one could detect their presence in the abode. As Dobby was cleaning up the small messes around the home, Kushina was poking around, she peeked into her sons room and found him asleep underneath a very garish orange comforter. She sighed and said mentally, _terrific. If he ever discovers the Chudley Cannons, he'd be a fan just because of the color of their uniforms._ With that thought she closed his door quietly, she then checked the bathroom and made sure that every chemical was properly stored away, it was.

She then walked through the living room, out of the corner of her eye she noticed a photo, it showed Naruto being hugged by a Chuunin with a very familiar scar. She picked up the photo and smiled fondly down at the pair, she then chuckled lightly. Dobby wandered over and asked curiously, "why are you laughing at the photo, Mistress Shina?"

She tilted the photo so Dobby could see it, before she said, "I know this Chuunin, although when I knew him he was just a Genin not a Chuunin. He was a bit of a prankster, I actually showed him a few of my tricks, if my son is anything like me then the little Dolphin has his hands full." Her golden eyes twinkled in bemusement as she laughed quietly.

"Oh, Dobby sees, Mistress Shina." Dobby said then popped away to some shopping for essential items for the apartment.

Kushina shook her head fondly as she placed the photo back on the bookcase that was full of scrolls. She then walked to the kitchen, she snooped through the cupboards, checking to make sure that Dobby wasn't buying Naruto too much junk food. He wasn't, she found items that were healthy but foods that would fool a child into thinking that they weren't all that healthy. However when she opened the cupboard where Naruto stored his ramen she blinked in shock and exclaimed quietly, "okay, I love ramen to the point my husband called me a Ramen freak." She then pointed at the ramen packed into the cabinet, "but I can safely say I never took it this far."

She then closed the door to the cabinet and walked out into the living room, as she glanced around the room she frowned. She thought to herself, _this isn't right. Naruto isn't a Genin yet, he therefore isn't an adult by the Village's standards, so why is he living alone? The only sign I've found in the entire apartment of an adult prescence in his life is pictures of Iruka and Sarutobi._

As that thought went through her mind she felt the unease of both of her zanpakuto, neither of them were happy with the thought of her child being left alone. A few minutes later she heard an odd noise from her son's bedroom, she walked toward it quietly, she knew that he wouldn't be able to see her face due to the ANBU mask over it. She glanced at the bed and saw as her son moved restlessly, he was making a quiet whimper, she couldn't leave him to his nightmare.

So she walked over and gently sat down on the bed, she then leaned over and while running her clawed fingers through his hair murmured, "shh, little one. It's only a dream, wake up, it's alright."

Naruto opened his eyes slowly, the only time he usually felt someone comforting him after a dream was when he was over at Iruka's or if he was sick and Iruka was taking care of him. He could hear someone murmuring soothingly into his ear while gently running their fingers through his hair. He looked over at the person who was doing this and to his surprise he saw an ANBU, the ANBU tilted their head to the side, he got the impression that they were smiling at his expression of shock.

He made a mental note to himself, _okay, self. ANBU is a girl._ Unknown to Naruto inside the seal on his stomach a fox snorted thinking to itself, _**idiot, that is your mother! Of course she's a girl.**_ Thankfully Naruto couldn't hear it, out loud Naruto asked tentatively, "ANBU-San?"

She chuckled lightly, "hello, little one. Are you alright?" As she asked that question she cocked her head to the left.

Naruto bit his lower lip and looked up at her through his eyelashes, "I'm fine, ANBU-San. I'm sorry if I disturbed you." As he apologized he stared down into his lap.

He heard a light tinkling laugh before he saw a clawed finger tip reach down under his chin and tilted it up. As he looked her in the eyes he noticed that she had a fond amusement in them, he had seen the same look in Iruka's every time he said that he'd be Hokage one day.

"There is no need to apologize to me, little one," she said gently, "and you can call me. Ryuu." She added with a chuckle.

Naruto stared at her in amazement, the last ANBU that had given him permission to call them by name was Crow, the only other one was Hound and Hound had retired just last year. Crow had disappeared when he was seven, he didn't know Hound's identity but he knew Crow's, Crow was Itachi Uchiha. Itachi was thought to be the killer of the entire clan of the Uchiha's however unknown to the village and even the only surviving Uchiha in Konoha, the Uchiha's escaped so they wouldn't be killed. To protect his baby brother Itachi allowed the village to label him a missing nin and allowed his baby brother to hate him to the point of wanting to kill him.

Only Naruto knew the truth and he was keeping quiet, he could call the Uchiha clan back if need be but he knew to hold off on that so long as the Idiot Trio was alive. Until it was safe enough he was to hold onto the information that Itachi and the clan gathered before they were forced to leave. He had also searched out all the information he could find about the order for the Massacre of the Uchiha clan. None of his ANBU guard had told him the reason for Crow's disappearance. Nor was he actually expecting an explanation.

All this went through his head in a few seconds, he then murmured hesitantly, "okay, Ryuu-San."

She chuckled and ruffled his blond locks before she got up from the futon.

"Come on little one. Let's get you something warm to drink, then it's back to bed with you." She said while reaching down and easily picking up the small ten year old. She easily hid her anger over how light her child was, Naruto was surprised since she carried him into his kitchen finally placing him on one of the bar stools at his table.

She leaned into the fridge and pulled out the jug of milk, she opened the top and sniffed it carefully. Under the mask her upper lip curled in disgust, she glanced at the expiration date and figured that Dobby hadn't bought milk when he was here last night. She tsked before she summoned Mikali to her side. Naruto gaped at the large cheetah inside his kitchen. As he gaped in shock at the large animal, to his surprise the ANBU Ryuu looked down at the cat and asked, "hey there, Mikali. Can you go to the store and pick up a jug of milk?"

The large cat glanced up at her then over at Naruto, before he nodded and said, "of course, Mistress Ryuu." She then strapped a harness with a bag attached to the cheetah. Mikali then disappeared leaving only a cloud of smoke behind which quickly cleared.

Ryuu then glanced over at the gaping Naruto, she frowned slightly before she asked, "what is it, little one?"

Naruto pointed at where the cheetah had been standing before he exclaimed, "you have a summoning contract!"

She looked at him bemused, "almost all ANBU have a summoning contract. It's not that unusual, little one," she softly pointed out.

Naruto pouted, "oh," just after that the Cheetah popped back into the room, only this time he was holding a bag carefully in between his jaws. He set it down on the ground and backed away from it allowing Ryuu to pick it up.

"Here you go, Mistress Ryuu," Mikali said in a purring voice.

Ryuu scratched the cheetah under the chin, sending the large male into a bout of purring. Golden eyes twinkled down at the large male, "you can go then, old friend." She said while giving him a light pat on the side. Mikali nodded before he disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

Ryuu shook her head fondly at the area that the cat had been sitting in before she took out the jug of milk from the bag and poured a small amount in a saucepan before placing the jug in the fridge. She then reached into her kunai pouch and pulled out a small bar of Honeyduke's finest chocolate, she carefully broke it into tiny pieces. After she broke the bar up she poured the chocolate in the milk and stirred the mixture until the chocolate was completely dissolved and dissipated throughout the milk.

She then reached into the cupboard and pulled out a large mug, she then poured a small amount of the milk into it and handed it to Naruto. She gestured for him to drink it while she took a seat on the stool across from him, Naruto carefully sipped the drink, he was surprised to find that he liked the taste. After he finished the glass of milk he started to yawn, he had the oddest feeling that she was smiling at his antics again. After his sixth yawn, she chuckled and said, "alright, I think it's time for a certain young man to get back to bed."

Naruto pouted and tried to protest but a yawn slipped out instead so he got up and went to his room. To his surprise she had followed him and after he crawled underneath the covers, she tucked him in, he then heard her murmur, "sweet dreams, little one."

As he faded off to sleep he thought he felt a gentle pressure on his forehead but was pulled deep into slumber before he could look to see what that pressure was. Kushina stared down at her son and once she was sure he was deep enough into sleep she frowned down at his stomach. She could feel Kyuubi's presence within the seal, however she could tell that the seal was still holding him back and it would continue to do so for a while.

"Thanatos, Anubis…" she called out softly, the two men appeared kneeling behind her. She glanced over her shoulder and asked, "do you think I should make sure that Kyuu-Chan doesn't recognize me?"

Anubis cocked his head to the right and replied, "on one hand, the demon fox cannot tell Naruto that you are his mother so long as Naruto is not in any danger of dying. On the other hand, the fox can confirm that you are Naruto's mother and his former host, when you finally get around to telling him the truth."

Kushina glanced at Thanatos to see his opinion, he was grumbling and pouting but when he saw her questioning look he gave her his opinion. "As much as I hate to say this… It would be best to leave the fox be. However I would suggest asking it not to tell Naruto until you are ready. You were one of his favorite hosts after all, you hardly ever asked for his chakra." Thanatos grumbled some more before falling silent.

Kushina hummed in thought before she acted, she carefully placed her hand over the seal on his stomach. She then closed her eyes and concentrated, she slipped into the seal with an ease that would've surprised anyone but an Uzumaki. Their clan had always built in a backdoor to any seal made by a clan member, Minato had only modified an existing Uzumaki clan seal to use that night. He had left the backdoor in place since there were so few Uzumaki's left. Kushina hadn't told him that the Uzumaki's had ties beyond the barrier nor that they had relations in Sand.

When she opened her mental eyes, she was slightly disturbed to find herself in a sewer system. She snorted before saying aloud, "well this is odd." She shook her head before she started walking down one of the many tunnels, she stopped at a large doorway that was glowing red around the edges.

She reached out and ran her finger down the door, she heard a series of clicks as the many locks holding it shut unlocked. The door then swung open on silent hinges, she saw a large cage to the side and inside it lay a slumbering fox. She smiled mischievously, before adopting a faux innocent look, "my, my, my… A sleeping fox… How cute!" She exclaimed sweetly, causing the fox to startle awake and hit its head on the bars.

The large fox gaped at his former host, "Shina-Chan! How…When…What in the heck is going on here?" The fox looked down at her with an irked expression on his face, she was rolling on the ground laughing from the look on the giant foxes face.

Once Kushina had finally managed to calm her giggles she stood and chirped, "hello Kyuu-Chan!" After the fox playfully glared at her for the nickname, she smirked and answered his questions. "You know very well that every Uzumaki seal has a backdoor built into it that allows anyone with Uzumaki blood to tinker with the seal. I have no clue what you mean by 'When?' So I'll skip it. As for what's going on… I need a favor from you." The fox's expressions had changed rapidly during her explanations before it finally settled on bemusement.

"I meant how are you alive and just when did you get back in Konoha. Just what is this favor you need from me anyway?" Kyuubi settled back down and placed his chin on his front paws expectantly.

Kushina sighed and settled down on the floor, "well for starters, I did die. Minato died as well, there is no way to perform that seal and live. To our surprise the two of us ended up in front of the Shinigami King, he took one look at us and sent us to the past. Where we once again ended up in front of the King. Minato was reincarnated as Kisuke Urahara, his memories were suppressed with the promise that one day I can reawaken them. I on the other hand, joined the Kings Guard, I was later elevated to the position of the second in command of the Guard. The Head of the Kings Guard was a woman named Hisana, when Hisana was sent on a mission to keep a close eye on a Shinigami named Aizen Souske, I was promoted to Head of the Kings Guard. Fifteen years ago I was given a mission of my own, hunt down and eliminate the soul known as Tom Marvolo Riddle, or as he was known to the Wizarding world Lord Voldemort. I'm to drag his soul before the King if necessary, if I complete my mission successfully Minato and I will be allowed to return to the hidden countries and Konoha." She trailed off, the huge nine tailed fox stared down at his former host in shock.

"You met the Shinigami King!" He exclaimed after several minutes of silent shock.

Kushina smiled in amusement at his reaction but nodded, "yes we did. The favor I want to ask is simple, don't tell Naruto who Ryuu really is and don't tell him that I'm dead. Okay?" She explained staring up at the giant red nine tailed fox.

Kyuubi blinked in puzzlement over the rather simple favor that his former host asked of him, he shrugged but nodded in agreement before he said, "very well. You have my word that I will not speak of any of it to my current host until you are ready, Kushina-Chan."

Kushina sighed in relief, the word of a demon was absolute, if a demon swore something then they would be bound to their oath. That was usually why they hardly ever gave their word to a mortal. She smiled up at him and said, "thank you Kyuu-Chan. I better get going, I have school tomorrow."

The fox raised his head in bafflement at that comment but nodded and said, "good night Kushina-Chan." Kushina grinned up at the fox before she exited the room and disappeared from the seal.

When she opened her eyes she found herself once again in Naruto's bedroom staring down at her son who was sound asleep. She gently carded her fingers through his hair before giving him a second kiss goodnight on the forehead and left the room.

Dobby had returned while she was checking on the seal, he looked up and said, "there you are Mistress Shina! Do you wish for Dobby to take you back now?" He asked with an adoring look upon his face.

She nodded, "yes Dobby. I better get back soon, or I won't have gotten enough sleep for classes." She stated wryly.

Dobby popped her back into her room and then popped back to Konoha. Kushina stretched and slowly took off her ANBU Uniform, she took off her mask first. She laid it on her bed while she took off her armored and clawed gloves, she then took off her shin guards as well as both her Kunai and Shurikin holsters. She also took her senbon needles from their hiding places along with her exploding tags.

She placed all of the weapons and pieces of armor in the wooden chest that was still on the foot of her bed, she then placed her mask on top of it all. She smiled fondly down at the mask that had covered her face while she protected her husband during his tenure as Hokage.

She then walked into her bathroom and decided against taking a bath, she instead took a hot shower. After she was done with taking her shower she dressed in her nightclothes and crawled into bed, turning out the light and falling fast asleep.


	17. Chapter 16: Dreams and Surprises

Chapter Sixteen: Dreams and Surprises

The next morning dawned bright and early, Kushina rolled out of bed and cracked her neck. She then dressed in the uniform, as she dressed she muttered to herself, "I'm going to have to get used to wearing skirts. I've been wearing pants for so long that I've become too used to them, these skirts feel weird." As she put her tie on she stared at herself in the mirror, she shook her head at seeing herself in a knee length plaid skirt, a white blouse and her Gryffindor tie. After she secured her tie, she murmured a spell to braid her hair into a French braid and then used another to put it up in a bun to keep it out of her way.

After she double checked to make sure she was presentable, she grabbed her book bag and walked out of her room. She found Hermione reading in front of the fire in the common room, she raised her eyebrow at that but placed her bag on the chair beside Hermione. She then asked, "Ron still asleep?"

Hermione looked up at her female best friend and said, "of course. You know Ron, he likes to sleep in."

Kushina smirked and said while walking up the stairs to the boys dorms, "I'll go wake him up then, shall I?"

Hermione waved her hand dismissively while she went back to her book.

Kushina walked up the stairs until she reached her old dorm room, she walked into the room to find Neville getting dressed, he had his shirt unbuttoned and his tie was hanging around his neck. He eeped and ducked behind his curtains, she chuckled while calling out, "don't worry Nev' I have a Fiancé, remember."

Neville called out from behind the curtains surrounding his bed, "I love you like the older sister I never had but still Kushina. Don't startle a boy when he's getting dressed!" At his exclaimed remark Dean opened his curtains and raised his eyebrow at her prescence in the dorm, she merely smiled at him and waved.

She then walked over to Ron's bed and opened the curtains to find her best friend who was her brother in all but blood, lying sprawled on his back snoring lightly. She snorted in amusement before leaning over and shaking his shoulder, he rolled onto his left side muttering, "five more minutes, Mum."

Kushina snickered lightly, she heard quiet laughter from Dean and Neville while Seamus stared blearily at her clearly wondering what she was doing in his dorm room. She then smirked and said to the other three boys, "want to see Ron get dressed quickly?"

Dean snickered and said, "go for it!"

Kushina cleared her throat and took a deep breath before she bellowed, "RONALD WEASLEY GET UP RIGHT THIS INSTANT! YOU'VE MISSED BREAKFAST AND YOU ARE LATE FOR MY CLASS! IF YOU ARE NOT UP AND DRESSED IN THE NEXT FIVE MINUTES YOU WILL HAVE DETENTION FOR THE NEXT THREE WEEKS!" She had bellowed it in a perfect imitation of Professor Minerva McGonagall, the smirk on her face caused all the boys to collapse laughing especially when Ron shot up out of bed seemingly wide awake.

To the amusement of the other boys, Ron shot up out of bed and threw on his clothes all the while shouting, "yes, Professor McGonagall! Right away!" He ran out of the room so fast he didn't even notice that the woman standing next to his bed had red hair not black and was most definitely not his head of house. Besides if he was really awake he would have remembered that his Transfiguration Professor was now James Potter not Minerva McGonagall. He skidded out of the bathroom and raced down stairs to find the rest of his house staring at him in amusement and amazement.

When Kushina walked down the stairs following him she got a standing ovation from the twins. She gave them a mock bow and smirked at Ron, "you know Ron, I've never seen you move that fast to get dressed before."

He glared at her before he growled, "Kushina, I love you like a sister but you're dead!" With that he lunged at her, but she just dodged around him and grabbed her bag before racing out the common room door. As he chased her down the halls he was bellowing, "GET BACK HERE KUSHINA!" She raced past both of her parents shooting them a grin as she ran past.

Remus looked amused and James merely raised his eyebrows in puzzlement before turning to Remus and asked, "was that our daughter?"

Remus nodded, "yes, that it was. Kushina is just about the only person who can wake Ron this early in the morning. Not even Molly can get him to wake up this early unless it's for the Quidditch world cup." Just then Hermione came along the hallway looking extremely amused, she was carrying her bag as well as Ron's.

She stopped in front of them before she said, "good morning Professor Lupin, Professor Potter. Did Kushina come racing past here with an irate red head following her?" She asked with humor lacing her voice.

Remus and James nod before James commented, "you can call us James and Remus you know. We're not currently teaching you, after all."

Remus interjected with, "besides my wolf considers you part of its pack and pack members don't really use formalities." He looked amused at Hermione's torn expression, he knew what was going through her mind at that moment, on one hand Remus was right she was pack and pack is not that formal even to the Alpha's but on the other he was a Professor and as such should be respected.

She eventually nodded and said, "very well, Remus, James. Did you see Kushina?" She asked again.

James nodded, "yep, she was racing to the Great Hall. Why was she heading there?" he asked curiously.

Hermione laughed, "because when food is around Ron is easily distracted. By the time that Breakfast is over he'll have forgotten he was even mad at her." She smiled in fond amusement at her absent friends.

Remus chuckled and said while tugging James, "well come along with us. We need to get breakfast as well and we might as well walk you to the Great Hall." With that Remus led the way with James and Hermione talking about the upcoming Transfiguration lesson which for the Gryffindor fifth years wouldn't be held until the next day.

Remus then overheard as James commented, "well if the Slytherins expect Lily to dote on them they are in for a rude awakening. Plus they can't threaten her, after all she stood in front of Moldy Voldy once and called him a snake faced hypocrite." As they walked along James commented wryly, "I've never been able to figure out what she meant by that either."

Hermione patted him on the shoulder and said, "ask your daughter sometime about just who Tom Riddle is." With that she walked into the Great Hall, both professors stared after her puzzled.

James turned to Remus and asked, "just who is Tom Riddle and what does he have to do with Moldy Voldy?" Remus shrugged before walking up to the Teachers table as he passed his daughter he ruffled her hair. She glared up at him playfully, but while she was glaring at Remus, James came up beside her and gave her a kiss on the forehead.

With his hazel eyes dancing in laughter he said, "good morning my little cheetah."

She rolled her eyes but said, "good morning Dad." He laughed and ruffled her hair before heading to the Staff table.

Kushina quickly found herself the subject of many stares in the hall from the other houses and she raised her eyebrow in sardonic questioning, "what? Do I have something on my face?" The onlookers quickly looked away, even those not of her house had learned a long time ago not to make Kushina mad. Of course during her second and fourth year they conveniently forgot about this little fact. Besides they all remembered how well she was fighting that huge guy yesterday.

Kushina then turned to Hermione to discuss the first class of the day for her with was Ancient Runes. Ron tuned out the conversation as he said it made his head hurt. Ginny who was near them snickered at her older brother's discomfort while the twins were discussing what the new classes might be like.

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Divination had never been Kushina's favorite class, this was mainly due to the Professor's, in Kushina's opinion, rather bad habit of predicting her premature death every few classes or so. Trelawney was a thin woman, heavily draped in shawls and glittering with strings of beads, she had always reminded Kushina of some sort of insect. What with her glasses magnifying her eyes drastically, she was busy putting copies of battered leather bound books onto each of the spindly little table which littered the room when Kushina entered the room. Thankfully the light cast by the lamps covered by scarves and the low-burning sickly-scented fire dimmed the room so much she appeared not to notice her as she and Ron took a seat in the shadows. The rest of the class came inside and sat down, Lavender and Parvati both took seats near to where Professor Trelawney would be sitting.

After several moments of quiet conversation Professor Trelawney spoke in her usual misty dreamy voice, "good-day. And welcome back to Divination. I have, of course, been following your fortunes most carefully over the holidays, and am delighted to see that you have all returned to Hogwarts safely - as, of course, I knew you would." At that Ron rolled his eyes at Kushina, who smirked at him.

"You will find on the tables copies of The Dream Oracle, by Inigo Imago. Dream interpretation is a most important means of divining the future and one that may very probably be tested in your OWL. Not, of course, that I believe examination passes or failures are of the remotest importance when it comes to the sacred art of divination. If you have the Seeing Eye, certificates and grades matter very little. However, the Headmaster likes you to sit the examination, so…"

Her voice trailed away delicately, leaving all of them in no doubt that she considered her subject to be above such sordid matters as examinations.

"Turn, please, to the introduction and read what Imago has to say on the matter of dream interpretation. Then, divide into pairs. Use the Dream Oracle to interpret each other's most recent dream. Carry on."

The one good thing to be said for divination was that it was not usually a double period. By the time they had all finished reading the introduction of the book, they barely had ten minutes left in which to do dream interpretation. At the table next to Kushina and Ron, Dean had paired up with Neville, who immediately embarked on a long-winded explanation of a nightmare involving a pair of giant scissors wearing his grandmother's best hat; Kushina and Ron stared at each other for several minutes.

Ron had a bemused look on his face when he said, "I never remember my dreams, you say one."

Kushina raised an eyebrow at him, "you must remember one of them." She said somewhat impatiently.

Ron pouted but said, "alright I'll share one but then you have to tell me one." He bargained, Kushina shook his hand to seal the deal. Ron then explained, "I dreamt I was playing Quidditch the other night. What d'you reckon that means?"

Kushina flipped through the pages of The Dream Oracle without interest, "it probably means you're going to be eaten by a giant marshmallow or something," she said distractedly. Ron pouted at that, before he reminded her of her promise.

Kushina snorted but started to explain her dream, Dean and Neville listened in, "I dreamt I had played a prank on several old people that had severely annoyed me. I had the help of a young cohort named Dolphin. He was a rather cute and impish child with a scar across his nose. It was rather funny, whatever do you suppose that means, Ron?" She blinked up at him with a faux innocent look on her face.

Ron looked at her in bemusement, "I think it means that you are far too much like your parents for my comfort." He then paused in thought before he commented, "and I should've probably kept you far away from my uncles and my brothers."

Kushina snickered, "too late. In that case you should also keep me from my godparents and parents." Ron nodded in agreement.

It was very dull work looking up bits of dreams in the Oracle and Kushina was not really interested nor cheered up when Professor Trelawney set them to task on keeping a dream diary for a month as homework. When the bell rang they all trudged out of the classroom, Ron and Kushina led the way down the ladder, Ron was grumbling over having to write down his dreams for a month.

After Divination they met up with Hermione on their way down to the dungeons. Professor Lily Potter met them all at the potions classroom door however she directed them to a door about four doors down instead of inside. The Slytherin's grumbled a bit but did as she bade, the Gryffindor's greeted her cheerfully, Kushina greeted her Aunt then entered the classroom.

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After Potions they all headed to the Great Hall for lunch, the class was talking about their Potions lesson with enthusiasm.

Not even the Slytherin's could complain about the lesson, as Professor Potter, or Professor Lily as she preferred the students to call her, had conducted a test to see how much work they would have to do to get them up to Professor Snape's standards. Some had quite a way to go and others were surprised at how little they had to do to get to their former professor's standards. Their new professor told them which careers required that you have a passing grade in NEWT level Potions, Ron and Kushina were surprised to find out that being an Auror was one of them.

Kushina overheard Malfoy talking, "I wonder how close she is to Professor Snape. I mean the first night here she stayed behind to talk to him."

Kushina glanced back in time to see Blaise Zabini shrug in response to Malfoy's pondering. Kushina then shot a quick look over at her friends, Ron was too far ahead to have heard the quiet pondering of their Slytherin contemporary, but Hermione had and with a smirk asked Kushina, "so was your Aunt's lesson what you'd thought it would be, Kushina?"

Kushina noticed the pair of Slytherin's perk up from out of the corner of her eye as she turned to talk to Hermione. Kushina gave her a nonchalant shrug and said, "just as I thought. Uncle Rus told me that she would never suffer fools gladly, but she has a better understanding of the fact that some people just don't get potions."

Hermione snorted then said with an eyebrow raised, "even after spending the summer with them, I still don't quite know how close they are. What exactly is Professor Lily to Professor Snape anyway?" Hermione knew but was asking it for the benefit of the two Slytherins listening into their conversation.

Kushina adjusted the strap on her book bag and answered absently, "Aunt Lily is half-way between a little sister and his best friend. I know for a fact that Aunt Lily considers him the brother she never had and he took her older sisters place after Petunia refused to speak to her." Kushina then turned to Hermione and gave her a wicked smile, "and Aunt Lily told me that right before Professor Snape bonded she threatened to hurt his bonded if they ever broke Uncle Rus' heart."

Hermione laughed and retorted, "well that's understandable, I mean, they constantly fought each other and probably would still be fighting if your Dad and Aunt hadn't shoved them into a room where they couldn't get out of."

Kushina gave her a small smile and a conceding nod, "true enough, true enough." With that the two girls walked into the Great Hall and left the two boys with a lot to think about. They watched as Kushina and Hermione temporaily parted ways as Kushina made her way up to the Staff Table. The other three tables stared as Kushina walked up and scratched the black dog on the top of its head as she spoke quietly with Professor Lupin, Professor Lily and Professor Snape. Professor James Potter apparently wasn't in the hall yet, just as Kushina was about to turn away and go back to the Gryffindor table he walked in through one of the two side doors. As she walked past him he ruffled her bangs and she swatted at him while saying, "Dad stop doing that!"

James chuckled and called out as he took his seat between Remus and Lily, "I'm your Dad. I'm supposed to do things that annoy you, it's in the parenting handbook for pranksters." He gave his daughter a cheeky smile, it was one that the twins recognized and shuddered about, it was the same on that Kushina used right before she made a comment that was particularly wicked. It seemed that her dad only used it after he made a cheeky remark, whereas with Kushina it was a precursor to her cheekiness.

Kushina rolled her eyes and called out over her shoulder, "yes Daddy." She then sat down with her friends, Ron was on her left and Hermione was on her right, Neville was sitting across from her and two people down from Neville sat Ginny. The twins on the other hand were sitting with the rest of the Quidditch team about five people down from Hermione.

Lunch passed quickly and before they knew it Lunch was over and they were all heading to their next classes. Directly after Lunch was History of Magic, the combination of Binns droning voice and the full bellies of the students quickly sent most of them straight into Morpheus' arms.

Both Ron and Kushina glared at Hermione as they walked out of the classroom and Kushina asked her crossly, "how do you stay awake with his droning on?"

Hermione shrugged, "I'm 'fraid I don't have a clue as to how I stay awake in his class Kushina."

Ron groaned but perked up, "it's our last class of the day, right?" He asked Hermione eagerly.

Hermione and Kushina looked at him oddly but nodded, the rest of the Gryffindors also was staring at him strangely. "It is, why do you want to know?" Hermione asked with suspicion in her voice.

"Because, that means we have Professor Lupin next!" Ron crowed excitedly.

At that the rest of the Gryffindors listening in gave a cheer, the Hufflepuffs following them glanced at the cheering lions oddly, until Dean explained, "we have DADA next."

Justin muttered darkly, "lucky devils, we don't have DADA until Wednesday."

Seamus smirked and said smugly, "we know."

With that the Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors parted ways, they both had 15 minutes to get to their next class, thankfully for the Gryffindors the Defense classroom was on the same floor as the History of Magic. They had been waiting outside of the door to the DADA classroom when the Slytherin's came up. It was a testament to how eager the Gryffindor's were for the class that they didn't even react to some of the insults thrown by the Slytherin's. Daphne made her way to the trio's side and started talking quietly to Kushina about what the lesson might be about.

Before Kushina could even answer the door opened revealing the werewolf, who smiled at the class, "come in, and pick a seat." He gestured for them to come inside and the students filed into the room, Kushina had kept a firm hold on Daphne and made her sit down with the Gryffindors. Tracy Davis and Blaise Zabini shrugged but followed their friend at she was dragged to sit with the lions, they weren't about to leave one of their fellow snakes in the lions clutches alone. Even if two of the lions were friends with said snakes little sister, it just wasn't done.

As the class was pulling out their books, Professor Lupin spoke up, "you won't need those today. Put away your books then take out your quills and ink, you're going to be taking a little pop quiz today. I want to see what I have to teach you so you can pass this year and continue onto your NEWTS." Kushina shrugged but did as her Papa bade, she put her book back into her bag and pulled out the required items.

Remus walked around the classroom placing a piece of parchment on each students desk, once all of the desks had a piece of parchment on it he walked back to his desk. "You will have until the end of the lesson to finish the quiz, if you finish before the lesson is through then bring your quiz up to me and place it on the desk. You then may read your book or start on your homework for your other classes, there will be no talking until everyone is done with their quiz. Understood?"

"Yes, Professor Lupin." The class chorused to him, Remus smiled at them then motioned for them to begin the test.

Kushina flipped the piece of parchment over and smiled at the questions, she knew she shouldn't have told him about her adventures during the school years that he wasn't here.

Kushina Ruri Potter-Lupin, Gryffindor, 5th Year

**1.) How would you drive away a Lethifold? **A Patronus charm if I had awoken in time.

**2.) How do you not deal with a band of caged pixies?** Open the cage and let them out.

**3.) How would you handle facing a mountain troll with only a few people to help you take it on? **Distract it with loud noises while urging the others to run, if they stand petrified then jump on its back, stick your wand up its nose while having one of your partners cast the levitation charm on it's club then when it looks up drop the club. That should knock it out.

**4.) If faced with a werewolf during a full moon with out knowing if they've taken the wolvesbane potion, how would you handle it? **If you are an animagus transform, werewolves go after humans in their territory not animals. If you are not an animagus and there are trees around, get you behind up one of the trees and pray to the gods that the wolf can't find a way up it.

**5.) What spell would you use to deal with an Inferius (a.k.a. zombies) ?** Set it on fire. Chop it's head off then set it on fire. Drive over them with a large vehicle.

**6.) If faced with several pursuers using dark magic, how would you handle this? What actions would you take and what spells would you use? **Depends, if I'm in an unfamiliar place then I'd try to get as much space in between me and them, if I know the place and they don't then I would use the terrain to my advantage.

Situation # 1: I'd seal the doors behind me with the Colloportus, so it would take them time to open them. I'd probably also use methods they wouldn't expect such as muggle techniques. And I'd probably fight fire with fire.

Situation #2: I'd use mild curses and hexes to annoy them and get them to slip up by making them angry. I'd set muggle traps and snares to catch them, then I'd make sure they can't cast any spells by taking their wands from them whenever I caught one. I'd then drag them away from the area I caught them and leave them under heavy guard.

**7.) What is the Protogo Charm? **It is a shield charm that depending on the amount of power put into it can withstand many spells but it cannot resist the unforgivable curses.

**8.) How would you use the following spells to defeat an opponent? Aguamenti, Avis, Glisseo, Repello, and Petrificus Totalus. (You must use all spells in the attack for full grade.) **I'd use Avis to distract them, then I'd cast Aguamenti and Glisseo in quick succession to make the floor under them slick then I'd cast the Repello to send them flying away before I'd cast the Petrificus Totalus charm on them to freeze them in place so I can incapacitate them.

**9.) Explain what all the spells in question eight do. **Avis: conjures up a flock of birds, Aguamenti: a spell to conjure water, Glisseo: converts the target into a slippery slide, Petrificus Totalus: the Full-body Bind, and Repello: the repelling charm.

**10.) If trapped in a cave or tunnel, what spells would you use to get out? **If I knew which way was up, I'd use Reducto, Expulso, and/or Defodio

**11.) If you needed to how would you get rid of a basin full of poison that doesn't allow you to vanish it? Be creative. **I'd transfigure something into a muggle water pump and simply pump out all the poison into another receptacle then once I've gotten whatever it was that was in the basin of said poison I'd pour the poison back in.

**12.) True or False? A werewolf will stay calm so long as it's mate and any children it has is calm. **True, but you'd know that I'd know this already Papa.

**13.) Explain the Unforgivable curses and why they are unforgivable. But explain how they could be used for light purposes. Again be creative. **Imperio: the Imperious Curse, it is a curse that can make you control anyone that doesn't have a stronger will than you or has no incentive not to do what you tell them to. This spell is labeled unforgivable due to it taking away the free will of the victim.

Crucio: the Cruciatus curse or the pain curse, when cast it causes almost unbearable pain to the victim, it is labeled unforgivable because if held to long on someone it can cause insanity.

Avada Kedavra: the killing curse, who ever is hit by this curse even if it is just a glancing blow is killed instantly. There is only one known survivor of the Killing curse and it is unknown how they survived. This is labeled unforgivable because there is no defense against it.

Ways in which the unforgivable three can be used for light purposes:

Imperio: If someone was threatening to commit suicide by jumping off a ledge and you could cast it to make them step far enough away from the ledge to be able to be subdued without a chance of them falling off of the ledge. Or if someone was holding a child hostage and there was no way to get them away without the child being harmed or killed then you could cast it on the person holding the child hostage and make them let the child go.

Crucio: If someone was in a rage that couldn't be calmed it might jolt them out of it, or it could be used on coma patients to see if they still respond to stimuli, it might even be enough to wake them from their coma.

Avada Kedavra: if someone was suffering from an incurable illness or curse. It could be used as a mercy killing thus allowing the person to be free of the pain without a drawn out death.

**14.) True or False? It's possible to defeat a troll with only the levitation charm. **Yes. Provided that it is sufficiently distracted and has a club.

**15.) True or False? The Thestral is an omen of bad fortune and the cause of death. **False, the Thestrals can only be seen if you have witnessed, accepted and understood a death. Hence the bad omen.

**16.) True or False? The most deadly weapon anyone can have is their brain. **True.

**17.) How would you deal with an infestation of Doxies? **with the recommended pesticide, of course.

**18.) What would you use to kill a Basilisk? **A phoenix, a hat and a Sword.

**19.) If faced with certain death or with a mildly torturous curse which would you take? **The torturous curse, unless the choice is being given by the person that will be killing me if I chose that then I'd take the certain death. 'Cause after they use the torturous curse then they would probably kill me anyway.

**20.) Name one insulting nickname for a dark lord. **Snake-Faced Hypocritical Dork Lord Moldy-Shorts.

Kushina ended the quiz with a flourish to the last sentence she wrote while smirking. Ron had glanced over at her and upon seeing the smirk quickly looked back down at his test. Kushina got up from her seat and made her way to the front of the classroom placing her test on the desk there was only a few other's on the desk already, Remus shook his head at how quickly his daughter finished her test. He picked up her test and put it at the bottom of the pile he was already going through.

Kushina had pulled out a roll of parchment and started writing, she was trying to figure out a class schedule for her future class of Shinigami and Shinobi Arts. She had decided to slip in a few Shinobi techniques, mostly simple ones like how to throw weapons simple stuff like that. She certainly wasn't going to teach them the fire techniques that the Uchiha clan were famous for.

In the end she decided to teach year by year on Saturday, while during the week it would be one year per day except for Friday when she would take the sixth and seventh years one week, then the fourth and fifth the next. On some days it would be theory and on others it would be a practical lesson. It would all depend on how well they had done the day before if they did on or the other.

By the time she was finished with her class schedule everyone was finished with their quiz and had handed it in to Professor Lupin. They still had about thirty minutes of class and it seemed that Professor Lupin only had about seven more tests to grade so they all sat quietly in their seats. Remus looked up once he was finished with the last test, he then stood up and said, "alright then, it seems you have a fairly good back ground but I will have to teach certain spells that will be in the OWLS. I'll be handing you a copy of your tests in the next class, everyone, you are dismissed for the day." At that the class gave out a small cheer, Remus chuckled and then said over the cheers, "there will be no homework for today. I will see you all on Thursday," Remus commented once the class quieted down from the uproar caused by the relief of having no homework for one of their classes.

The students filed out of the class room, some headed to their common rooms to drop off their bags in their dorms other's headed straight for the Great Hall and Dinner. Kushina hung back and waited until the class was almost empty before she chided, "I knew I shouldn't have told you and Sirius about my adventures. Now you had everyone take a test about them." When she said that she shook her finger at her Papa in mock condemnation.

Remus laughed before he grabbed her hand and gently dragged her into his lap and tugged on her bangs lightly. Remus then proceeded to tickle his daughter on the sides which caused her to laugh uncontrollably. Both heard a chuckle from the doorway and looked up to see James standing there watching them. James shook his head in amusement and said, "come on you two. Dinner is waiting."

With that James walked away still chuckling, Remus looked down at the girl and said, "well I guess we better get going." With that Remus stood up while still holding Kushina and set her down, Kushina grabbed her bag and then waited by the open door for Remus to get through. As they walked down the hallway to the stairs they chatted quietly about spells that could be used for attack or defensive measures.

James was waiting for the two of them at the stairs and joined in their discussion by adding what different transfigurations you can use in a duel. Citing that you could turn pebbles into giant dogs or conjure huge slabs of stone to take a curse for you. Or as Kushina suggested in her quiz conjuring a flock of birds in an opponents face. She mentioned as much to her Dad and he nodded enthusiastically, "exactly, transfiguration can be used in so many ways in a duel. Duels aren't just about hexes, curses, charms and shields."

As he said that they walked into the Great Hall where most were staring at the family in bemusement, while Albus and Minerva applauded.

Minerva looked over her square glass frames at her favorite former student, "well said, James, well said. Transfigurations has many uses in a duel, however most do not think of using it at all."

James blushed at having exclaimed that to the entire student body, but quickly walked toward the staff table practically dragging Remus along. Kushina watched amused at her parents, before she shook her head and went to join her best friends at the Gryffindor table. She nodded to Ginny who was sitting with Colin and Dennis Creevey. Luna was sitting by herself and as Kushina walked past her, she placed her hands on Luna's shoulders and tilted Luna backwards so Kushina could look her in the eye. Kushina smirked down at Luna and said, "don't space out too much Luna." Kushina then ran her fingers through Luna's hair and with a few murmured spells straightened it out and pulled it into one of the Roman styles that she knew.

A few of the boys in the hall gaped at how pretty the new hairstyle made the girl, the hairstyle exposed her long graceful neck and accentuated her facial features. It also made her eyes seem less protruding than before, after she finished styling Luna's hair Kushina tucked Luna's wand back behind her ear. Kushina cast one more spell to ensure that the style would stay in place until Luna went to bed then she said, "come to Gryffindor tower tomorrow morning and ask the portrait to tell Minato that Kushina's moon has come to see her. If I'm not there then I'll do your hair in the hall at breakfast. I'll do your hair in a style similar to this, okay, Imouto-Chan?"

Luna blinked her large eyes up at Kushina before she nodded and said, "yes Kushina. But I have a question."

Kushina looked down at Luna with her left eyebrow raised looking a lot like her second Godfather. "What is it, Imouto-Chan?"

Luna turned slightly in her seat and cocked her head to the side, "what does Imouto-Chan mean?" Luna pronounced the unfamiliar words carefully so she wouldn't mangle them.

Kushina chuckled lightly before she tucked Luna's bangs behind her ears and explained, "Imouto means roughly Little Sister or youngest sister, while Chan is used only for those that are close to the person or if the person is younger than the one using the honorific. So you could say that Imouto-Chan means my dearest Little sister." At that some of the Ravenclaw girls that bullied the young Ravenclaw blanched, they knew full well that meant that Luna was now off limits. By calling Luna her little sister Kushina had declared that Luna was underneath her protection, and Kushina had a lot of protection that she could provide seeing how powerful she was.

Luna thought carefully for a moment before she asked, "what would I use to say older sister?" When Kushina gave her a look filled with curiosity, Luna elaborated, "if you are going to call me little sister then I'd like to be able to call you big sister."

Kushina smiled down at the younger girl before she spoke, "well in that case, ane, neesan, and aneki all mean elder sister. Aneki means something along big sis, while neesan is more formal, some thing like sister, and ane means my eldest sister. You can call me which ever one you want to."

Luna bit her lower lip in thought and gazed into space for a moment before she spoke, "I think I'll call you Aneki. If that's alright with you?" She asked tentatively.

Kushina laughed lowly before she said, "that's fine with me Imouto-Chan." Kushina then walked away to sit down with Hermione and Ron, who were having a mild argument. Kushina leaned in between them before she said sweetly, "Otouto, Aneki. You aren't fighting are you?" Both swallowed at the gleam in Kushina's eyes which indicated that if they were then they better finish the argument before she settled it for them.

They then chorused much to the amusement of the rest of the hall except for the Gryffindor table which was entirely too used to the sight to even look away from their meals. "Not at all Kushina!" the pair blurted out hastily.

Kushina beamed down at them and said, "good. I'd hate to have to ruin my good mood due to an argument between you two." As she said that she settled down by the twins who were seated near Ron, she then piled some food on her plate and began to eat. Ron and Hermione breathed a sigh of relief, Kushina could be rather temperamental the closer it got to the full moon, however considering her father was a werewolf that wasn't too surprising.

As Kushina ate she let the sounds of the Hall roll over her, she smiled happily, her inner beast was purring and her Zanpakuto were radiating contentment. She had her parents, Sirius was safe, Severus wasn't spying, her Aunt was having a ball teaching Potions and her siblings weren't fighting. Not to mention she just effectively stopped the Ravenclaws from bullying the younger girl that Kushina was rapidly thinking of as a little sister. Her son was fine and even somewhat happy, he was being fiercely guarded by her cheetahs and one very protective hyperactive house elf. Life, in Kushina's humble opinion was good, or at the very least getting there, now if only Voldemort would drop dead…

Hermione waved her hand in front of her best friends dazed features, "Kushina…Are you alright?" Hermione asked once Kushina snapped out of her daze.

Kushina blinked up at Hermione and then looked around the Hall to find it mostly empty, "oh, yeah. I'm fine, I was just daydreaming of Moldy Voldy falling over dead of a heart attack."

At that comment, everyone around her gave her an odd look, but the rest of the Gryffindors shrugged and continued out of the hall. Kushina picked up her book bag and followed Hermione out of the Hall. Ron grabbed a few cookies from the table and followed swiftly after the girls. All the while he was thinking to himself, _how in the world did I end up best friends with a pair of girls. Neither of which actually like to sit around and be girly, hell Kushina can fly on a broom even better than my older brothers and Hermione is more of a bookworm than the Ravenclaws._ Ron shook his head fondly over the pair of girls he called his best friends and elder sisters.

Kushina and Hermione waited at the foot of the stairs for Ron and as the three walked up the stairs the girls teased him about his bottomless stomach. He knew they meant their teasing in good nature and he was free to tease Hermione about her tendency to read huge books while calling said huge books light reading. He was also free to tease Kushina about her tendency to be sneaky and prank the hell out of those that annoyed her.

Although all of Gryffindor tower was aware of it they didn't care that there was a snake in the lions den, after all Kushina had proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that she had enough bravery to impress Godric Gryffindor. So the lions accepted the snakes sneaky habits and would even rally to defend the serpent from all attackers if need be.

After her second year no one could deny that she had a rather Slytherin mindset considering she got the males of all four houses to prank Lockhart. She had even gotten the written and verbal respect of Adrian Pucey, Marcus Flint, Montague, Blaise Zabini, Tracey Davis, Daphne Greengrass, Terrance Higgs, and Theodore Nott. The Slytherin's who were aware of this gave Kushina a wide berth and their highest respect.

Ron was one of the very few who was aware of the fact that Kushina was nearly sorted into Slytherin, they had told Hermione after she was woken from petrifaction, they hadn't started pranking Lockhart until after Hermione was petrified. Mainly because Hermione would have known right away who was behind the whole scheme from the start.

Hermione was the other one who could tease her without mercy and with little retaliation, when they had asked Kushina why she didn't retaliate against their teasing she responded with a retort of, "that's what siblings do with each other. They tease in good nature and taunt younger and older siblings."

As they walked into their common room, they nodded greetings to their fellow lions and then parted ways at the stairs, Hermione walked up the girls stair while Ron took the boys and Kushina ducked into her rooms to toss her bag on her bed. She then grabbed the materials for her home work for Potions and History of Magic since they were the only ones that they could do until tomorrow. After all you can't record a dream you haven't had yet.

She then walked out into the common room and claimed the trio's usual seats by the fire, as she was the first one out there. Hermione came down the girls stairs a few moments later, Ron came down five minutes later cursing badly enough that had his mother heard him she would have washed his mouth out with soap.

They worked on their homework until around nine o'clock at night, Ron had actually completed his History of Magic homework and had made a sizable dent in the Potions before he had decided to challenge all takers to a chess match. While he played against one of his many opponents he asked Kushina, "so what do you think Rukia and the others are up to?"

Hermione smirked, she thought Ron's crush on the adopted noblewoman was cute especially since Rukia seemed to have a crush of her own on Ron. Kushina looked over at Hermione and shot her a smirk, "oh, Rukia is probably training with Sodo no Shiriyuki. She's hell-bent on gaining Bankai, knowing Ichigo he's probably driving Byakuya crazy by disappearing without telling him where he is going. Ikkaku is probably trailing Izuru like a little lost puppy, Yumichika is probably primping in front of every mirror he can find and wondering what your brothers are doing. Kensei is probably berating himself that he needs to keep his hands off of his lieutenant, Shinji is more than likely being beat up by his wife and Kisuke is blowing something up or inventing the impossible again."

Ron's opponent was staring at Kushina in shock over the way she nonchalantly mentioned all of this. Ron hummed before he said, "yeah, you're right they probably are." The third year turned his disbelieving gaze onto Ron next.

Kushina glanced over at Hermione before she made a faux innocent comment, "Kenpachi is probably training his men into the ground and moping around pining after that girl of his." Hermione felt a stab of jealously and both of her best friends noticed the flash of angry hurt in her eyes. Ron cut a look to Kushina before signaling her to, 'cut it out and tell her already. I'm tired of her being jealous of herself.' Before he turned back to the chess set he saw Kushina give back the signal of acknowledgement.

Kushina got up and said, "Hermione could you join me for a moment in my rooms. I found a book in my trunk that I think you would enjoy reading." Hermione perked up slightly and followed her through the portrait into Kushina's rooms.

Kushina gestured for Hermione to sit on her bed while she looked, while she searched through her trunk, "you know you really don't have to be jealous of Kenpachi's girl, right Hermione?"

Hermione had froze in shock, "jealous… What do you mean jealous? I'm not jealous!" She had exclaimed while looking around not letting Kushina look in her eyes.

Kushina snorted and said sarcastically, "sure, and I'm not engaged." She then looked up at Hermione in time to see her slump down and look at her with sad brown eyes.

Hermione winced slightly, "is it that obvious?" She asked tentatively.

Kushina nodded, "yeah it is."

Hermione sighed, "alright. I am jealous, but what do you mean I don't have a reason to be jealous of his girl?" She asked baffled.

Kushina chuckled, "Hermione, do you know what Ka-Chan means?"

Hermione shook her head, "no, but Yachiru's been using it for me ever since her and Kenpachi's third visit to spar with you this summer. Why?"

Kushina laughed, "Ka-Chan, roughly translated means Mama. Yachiru has been calling you mother this whole time and Kenpachi has been allowing it. Kenpachi is like her father, the only reason she doesn't call him Tou-Chan is because he is also her Captain, so she calls him Kenny or Ken-Chan."

Hermione gaped at Kushina, and Kushina waited a few moments to see if Hermione was going to say anything, when she didn't Kushina continued, "you have no reason to be jealous…because you would only be getting jealous of yourself. The girl I was teasing Kenpachi about was you." As she said that she walked up to Hermione and tugged on one of her curls.

Hermione stared at Kushina with happiness and delight in her eyes, "Kenpachi likes me?" She asked hopefully.

Kushina shook her head, "like you? No, he's head over heels in love with you! Hermione you are one of the few women that is completely unafraid of him. Despite his size and looks, you are completely and utterly fearless of him. Right from the start you have never feared him, not to mention you managed to tell him that even with you being completely unknowing in the art of sword fighting you can still beat him with one hand tied behind your back." Hermione had at first drooped at Kushina saying that Kenpachi didn't like her, she then shot her head up when Kushina dropped the bombshell that Kenpachi more than liked her.

As Kushina finished her impassioned speech Hermione was grinning at her and then tackled her into the bed while laughing in delight. Ron came into the rooms and upon seeing his best friends pillow fighting grabbed a pillow and joined in on the fun. In the small study/sitting area just inside the portrait door Minato smiled in happiness, he could hear Kushina squealing in shock as her best friends ganged up on her and tickled her into shrieks of laughter.


	18. Chapter 17: Pocky and Pranks

Chapter Seventeen: Pocky and Pranks

Kushina started awake breathing hard, as she stared sightlessly at the curtains surrounding her bed she muttered, "well that was an odd dream." She then rubbed her hands across her face after she did that she reached over to her bedside table and picked up the dream diary. She wrote down the dream in it, though to her it was still an odd dream, she snorted and said aloud, "why the heck did I dream about something like that anyway? I just hope its not one of my prophetic dreams again…" She muttered to herself, she then closed the diary and got up for the day.

She walked out of her rooms surprised to find that neither of her friends were up, she then glanced out the window and discovered that she was up earlier than usual. The sun hadn't even risen yet, she shrugged then put her bag back into her rooms and walked out of the common room. She wandered around for several minutes before she came across the kitchen and on a whim entered the room.

She saw the house elves bustling around getting breakfast ready, one of them spotted her and hurried over, "does young Miss need anything?" She asked eagerly.

Kushina smiled down at her, "well, I was wondering if I could use the kitchen to cook a few things."

The house elf nodded while beaming up at her, "but of course young miss. Your station is always kept the way you leave it."

Kushina hummed quietly before nodding her thanks and moving over to her area, as some of the elves watched Kushina started gathering ingredients to make pocky sticks. The dream she had featured a certain young boy that was by now a man who happened to love Pocky. She laughed quietly to herself as she remembered how she had been the one to give Itachi his first Pocky stick when she babysat him for Mikoto Uchiha. He adored them from that day on, the only reason he had been allowed into the academy early was because an academy student stole one of his pocky sticks thinking there was no way a kid of his age could do any Jutsu moves.

The academy student got his behind handed to him by a six year old boy, embarrassing for him even if said six year old was an Uchiha. When she found out about it she laughed herself to the point that she was almost turning blue. She remembered ruffling Itachi's hair and congratulating him on taking down the academy students ego a peg or two. He had blushed while muttering with embarrassment, "he took my pocky. I had to show him that no one except you, mom or dad can take my pocky."

When she told Minato about it later in his office he had laughed himself silly, eventually grabbing her around her waist and murmuring, "see why I said it was a bad thing when you gave him pocky for the first time?" He stared into her eyes as he asked that, she had laughed lightly but nodded before she pulled herself out of his lap.

The elves watched happily as she had smiled in fond remembrance as she mixed the ingredients together and formed a ball of dough that she let rest as she prepared the coating for the sticks that she was going to be making. She had decided to double the batch and made five batches, one for each house table and one for the staff table, so she was mixing together several different flavored coatings. Once the dough had rested for an hour to chill she rolled it out to a quarter of an inch thick and sliced the sticks to be just as wide and four inches long. She placed them flat on a baking sheet and baked them until a light golden brown, once they were cool she dipped them in the coating and let them air dry. Once all the sticks had been dipped and allowed to dry she then told the house elves, "you can place a batch on all of the tables, including the staff table, try to make sure that there will be some all along the table for the people sitting at them to grab." The house elves nodded before continuing their tasks.

She then walked back to her common room and slipped inside with none of the other houses the wiser that there would be a surprise on their tables this morning. Hermione was sitting on the sofa beside the window this morning, she looked up when the door opened and blinked in shock before asking, "so where did you go this morning?"

Kushina smirked as she sat down next to her friend, "the kitchens, I made a snack that I loved as a child." She smiled dreamily before commented in an airy tone, "they're still as good as I remember."

Hermione laughed, "so I take it that there will be a surprise on all the tables this morning." Kushina merely nodded with a smug smirk. Hermione snorted with amusement then went back to reading her book quietly. Kushina got up from her seat and went to get her book bag from where she left it, she then sat back down and pulled out her favorite book that she got from her dad.

Hermione raised an eyebrow at the book, but she knew that Kushina had been wanting that book for ages, the books name was emblazoned on the front, 'Curses and Counter-curses (Bewitch Your Friends and Befuddle Your Enemies with the Latest Revenges: Hair Loss, Jelly-Legs, Tongue-Tying and Much, Much More) by Professor Vindictus Viridian.' Hermione shook her head and thought to herself, _'oh, Remus you really should have bought her that. Now she's going to be using that in all of her pranks…'_

Two hours later, Kushina closed her book and stood up while she said, "I'm going to go wake Ron up, so be ready to grab his bag." Hermione smirked slightly and nodded her agreement.

Kushina bounded up the stairs to the boy's dorm, thankfully this time Neville was already dressed and getting ready to go downstairs to breakfast. He stopped and watched as Kushina threw open Ron's bed curtains, Seamus and Dean also stopped packing their bags to watch as Kushina gave an evil smile. They blinked in surprise when she merely leaned over and said quietly in a sing-song tone, "Ron…Wake up. Rukia is dancing naked in the common room."

To their amusement and surprise Ron shot out of bed shouting, "WHAT! RUKIA PUT ON YOUR CLOTHES!" He shot downstairs in his pajamas while shouting for Rukia to put on her clothes. After five minutes Ron came back in the room and glared at Kushina who grinned at him. He growled, "you have until I get dressed to run!"

She smiled impishly at him and raced out of the room shouting over her shoulder, "see you at Breakfast!" She bounded down the stairs and scooped up her book bag from beside her chair then told Hermione, "I'm going to talk to Aunt Lily about a question concerning a potion." With that she waved goodbye to the early risers of Gryffindor Tower.

Kushina laughed softy to herself as she remembered the look of terror that crossed Ron's face at the thought of Rukia dancing naked in the common room. She stopped in front of a painting of a wolf and a deer, she shook her head at the Headmasters choice of a guardian to her parents rooms. "Familia ante omnia," Kushina said, she watched as the door swung open to reveal the living room of her parents quarters. She shook her head in fond amusement over her Dad's choice of password for this month. '_Family before all else, indeed. The Potter family has always held family loyalty to the highest regard, anyone who is willing to betray family is to never be trusted. Unless the family has never shown them loyalty in return, then they are gladly called friend and family.'_

She walked cautiously into the room since during the summer her eyes had seen a sight that she would rather be forgotten. _'I love them and I'm glad they are finally reunited but there are just some things that a child doesn't want to see their parents doing.'_ She gave a mild shudder, she knew that they were sleeping together after all they did have her but she didn't want to walk in on it. "Dad, Papa, are you up?" She called out, while walking further into the room while listening intently.

She heard water running, so she knew that at least one of them was awake and either taking a shower, washing/shaving their face or brushing their teeth. She decided to leave her parents a note on the coffee table that she had dropped by that morning and then left to go talk to her Aunt.

By the time that Ron and Hermione had reached the Great Hall, Kushina was talking to Luna and was braiding her hair in an intricate style. She had pulled Luna's long blond hair through a clear hair band and was slipping a ice blue ribbon through the band leaving about six inches above the ponytail. The other Ravenclaw girls were watching closely as Kushina parted Luna's hair into three sections leaving the ribbon in the middle section she then braided Luna's hair until she reached the ends and then tied it off with another clear band.

She then coiled the braid around the top band, she continually adjusted the wrap of the coil until the end of the braid was at the top of band near the ribbon. She then tucked the ends of the braid under the bun and used a spell to hold the bun in place, she then took the ends of the ribbon and tied them together into a bow off to the side of the bun. For a final touch she gently coaxed out a few tendrils from the bun and by Luna's face to soften any sharp edges to it. The style left the nape of Luna's neck exposed while the short tendrils of hair that Kushina had coaxed out softened her face.

Kushina then murmured a few spells to keep it all in place before she said, "all done Luna. It'll stay like that for at least ten hours." She noticed Ron and Hermione out of the corner of her eye and turned to them, "hey you two."

Hermione smiled happily at her friend while Ron grumbled about how Kushina had woke him up. Kushina smiled smugly then glanced over at Hermione in time to catch a wistful look on her face as she was looking at Luna's hairstyle. "What is it Hermione?" Kushina asked quietly while Ron walked off to the Gryffindor Table to eat.

Hermione bit her lower lip and said, "it's amazing what you've done with her hair. But there's no way to style mine without using considerable amounts of Sleekeazy's Hair Potion." After she spoke she shrugged helplessly, while gesturing from her messy hair to Luna's now elegant style.

Kushina chuckled, "let me let you in on a little secret." She said conspiratorially, as she leaned over to Hermione. All the girls in the great hall listened in as Kushina smirked and said, "I have quite messy hair myself," she gestured to her hair and commented, "I have to work for this. It doesn't help during the summers when my Fiancé loves to run his fingers through my hair. The spells that I use on Luna's hair were originally developed by him for mine, one allows me to have relatively strait hair for a few days so I use that one sparingly. Sit down," she commanded while gesturing for Hermione to sit next to Luna.

Hermione gaped at the shocking fact that Kushina had inherited her fathers rather messy locks, and sat down without thinking. After what Kushina had commanded dawned on her she asked over her shoulder, "why do you want me to sit?"

Kushina smirked, "simple my dear Aneki, I plan to style your hair today." She said impishly while some of the girls in the hall pouted, they wanted someone to do their hair as well. With the murmur of a spell Hermione's hair went from bushy and slightly uncontrollable to merely a riot of curls, Kushina drew the hair on the side of Hermione's head up and back as if she was going to pin it there with a barrette. However she merely ran her wand over the bottom of the point where the two parts of hair met, she then let it fall down and to the surprise of the girls watching it stayed together and was held slightly up.

Kushina then took the hair hanging down and loose into her hands twisting it, she then took the twist of hair and pulled it under the hair that was pinned together. Kushina murmured the same spell as the one she used on Luna's to hold the twist in place. She then stepped back and smirked before she pulled out a hand mirror, handing it to her friend.

Hermione gaped, so did many of the girls that went to the Yule Ball last year, they thought Hermione's hairstyle then was good but it was nothing compared to the style that Kushina just put it in. Hermione reached up and tugged on one of the curls that hung loose to frame her face, she then turned to Kushina and asked, "how did you get so good at this?"

Kushina smiled sadly, "Aunt Masaki loved playing with my curls. After I turned six she started teaching me how to do some of the hairstyles that she knew. I kept doing the twins hair after she died so they wouldn't lose that part of their mother, I even did Lisa, Mashiro and Hiyori's hair just to keep in practice. You could have knocked Shinji over with a feather the first time I did Hiyori's hair." Kushina laughed at the mental image that flitted through her mind as she remembered that day. The four girls had gone shopping and Kushina had convinced all three to get a different and more girlish outfit than normal. She then had them all change before she did their hair, so all three female Visoreds looked a lot different then they normally had that day.

Kushina shook herself out of the memory as she looked down at her friend and commented, "I used this hairstyle on her and Shinji couldn't keep his hands off of his wife's hair. Since the style is held with magic he could run his fingers through it anytime he wanted. I taught them all how to do each other's hairstyles as well as how to do them on their own." Kushina shrugged before walking off to join Ron at the table.

At the staff table they watched as Kushina had done first Luna's then Hermione's hair. Lily commented quietly, "perhaps I should let her do mine one morning."

Severus snorted while at his feet Padfoot gave a quiet sound that somehow resembled a chuckle. James snickered while Remus shook his head in amusement, as they watched Kushina piled her plate with two pieces of toast, some scrambled eggs, three slices of bacon and two sausages. Ron had filled his plate with eggs, bacon, sausage and four pieces of toast. Hermione on the other hand when she joined the two only had a small pile of eggs, two slices of bacon, two sausages and one piece of toast. She also had an orange and an apple with that.

As the Professors ate breakfast Lily noticed an odd food on the table that she had never seen before. She picked up one of the partially chocolate covered sticks and asked curiously, "what is this?"

The other professors near her looked up and blinked in puzzlement, James on the other hand recognized it, "huh, that's Pocky."

Severus glanced over at him questioningly, "Pocky?"

The students who discovered the same snack were asking their neighbors curiously what it was, and several Slytherin's overheard as their Head of House asked James his question. As a whole they decided to listen in on the conversation.

James held one of them up and then bit into it with a loud crunch. He held up the stick as he explained, "they're a snack that's very popular in Japan. My cousin Masaki used to make them," he commented before he took another bite. After chewing the bite he swallowed and said, "matter of fact I would wager that this is the exact same recipe that she used. It's just a crunchy biscuit covered in a candy coating, chocolate is the most common coating but anything can be used." After he explained he finished the stick and grabbed a few more for himself, he sat there crunching on them happily.

Remus eyed the container holding some chocolate covered sticks before he grabbed one and ate it slowly, he hummed in pleasure before he said, "this is good. Try it Lily, Severus."

The Potions Professors glanced at each other before they too grabbed a stick and tried it, Lily hummed in pleasure while Severus gave an almost inaudible moan. Sirius perked up at the sound and poked his head above Severus knee with a whine. "No, Snuffles. Chocolate is bad for dogs," Severus scolded the black dog who only gave him a hurt look and whined again. Severus huffed before he turned to Lily and asked, "is there any without a chocolate coating. My silly Mutt is wanting to try one," he said while gesturing to the now happy dog.

Lily laughed but handed him a stick that had a pinkish coating on it, "here. I think this one has a strawberry flavored coating on it."

Severus handed the stick to the dog who took it from his fingers carefully, Padfoot settled on the floor and started to crunch the tasty snack. Soon he popped back up to beg for another stick, the students watched in amusement as Professor Snape's dog kept begging him for another stick. They laughed quietly as Professor Snape seemed to have enough and just put a plate of them on the ground for the dog.

Kushina had nudged both Ron and Hermione, the pair snickered at the look of exasperation on their old potions professor's face at Sirius' begging. The other Gryffindors wondered what the trio were laughing at and looked up to see what it was. When they saw the dog begging for snacks the entire table let out snicker, chuckles and giggles.

Double Charms was succeeded by Double Transfigurations. Professors Flitwick and Professor Potter both spent the first fifteen minutes of their lessons lecturing the class on the importance of OWLS.

"What you must remember," said the small Professor squeakily, who was perched as he ever was on a pile of books so he could see over the top of his desk, "is that these examinations may influence your futures for many years to come! If you have not already given serious thought to your careers, now is the time to do so. And in the mean time, I'm afraid, we shall be working harder than ever to ensure that you all to yourselves justice!"

They then spent over an hour revising Summoning Charms, which according to Professor Flitwick were bound to come up in their OWL, and he rounded off the lesson by setting them their largest ever amount of Charms homework.

It was much the same, if not a little worse, in Transfiguration.

"You cannot pass an OWL," James said grimly, "without serious application, practice and study." He then looked around the classroom before he smiled encouragingly, "I see no reason why everybody in this room cannot achieve an OWL in Transfiguration as long as they work and study hard." Parkinson glanced at Neville while making a derisive noise. James' eyes flashed at the look and noise before he commented, "yes, Neville even you. From what I've seen this summer you merely have the same confidence problem your father had for a while. So.. Today we will be starting with Vanishing Spells. These are easier than Conjuring Spells, which you would not usually attempt until NEWT level, but they are still among the most difficult magic you will be tested on in your OWL."

He was right; Kushina found the Vanishing Spells horribly difficult. By the end of a double period, neither he nor Ron had managed to vanish the snails on which they had been practicing, though Ron had commented hopefully that he though his look a bit paler than before. Hermione, on the other hand, had managed to vanish her snail on her third try, earning her a ten-point bonus for Gryffindor from Professor Potter. She was the only person not given homework; everybody else was told to practice the spell overnight, ready for a fresh attempt on their snails Friday afternoon.

The Slytherin's and Gryffindors were now panicking slightly about the amount of homework they had to do, Kushina, Ron and Hermione spent their lunch hour in Kushina's quarters. Kushina and Ron were looking up the uses of moonstones in potion-making. Hermione on the other hand was reading about Vanishing and Conjuring Spells, Ron commented that she didn't need to read ahead since she would more than likely get it on her third or fourth try in class anyway. Hermione huffed but there was a proud twinkle in her eye at the comment.

The day had become cool and somewhat breezy, and as they walked down the sloping lawn towards Hagrid's cabin on the edge of the Forbidden Forest, they felt an occasional drop of rain on their faces. Professor Grubbly-Plank stood waiting for the class some ten yard from Hagrid's front door, a long trestle table in front of her laden with twigs. As Kushina and Ron reached her, a loud shout of laughter sounded from behind him; turning, they saw Draco Malfoy striding toward them, surrounded by his usual gang of Slytherin cronies. He had clearly just said something highly amusing, because Crabbe, Goyle, Pansy Parkinson and the rest continued to snigger heartily as they gathered around the trestle table and, judging by the way they all kept looking at Kushina, she was able to guess the subject of the joke without too much difficulty.

"Everyone here?" barked Professor Grubbly-Plank, once all the Slytherins and Gryffindors had arrived. "Let's crack on then. Who can tell me what these things are called?"

She indicated the heap of twigs in font of her. Hermione's hand shot into the air. Behind her back, Malfoy did a buck-toothed imitation of her jumping up and down in eagerness to answer a question. Pansy Parkinson gave a shriek of laughter that turned almost at once into a scream, as the twigs on the table leapt into the air and revealed themselves to be what looked like tiny pixyish creatures made of wood, each with knobbly brown arms and legs, two twig-like fingers at the end of each hand and a funny flat, bark-like face in which a pair of beetle-brown eyes glittered.

"Oooh!" Parvati and Lavender exclaimed, thoroughly irritating Kushina, their girlish attitude grating on her nerves. Anyone who heard them would have assumed that Hagrid had never shown them impressive creatures; admittedly, the Flobberworms had been a bit dull, but the Salamander and Hippogriffs had been interesting enough, and the Blast-Ended Skrewts were perhaps a bit too much.

"Kindly keep your voices down, girls!" said Professor Grubbly-Plank sharply, scattering a handful of what appeared to be brown rice among the stick-creatures, who immediately fell upon the food ravenously. "So - anyone know the names of these creatures? Miss Granger?"

"Bowtruckles," said Hermione promptly, "they're tree guardians, and usually live in wand-trees."

"Five points to Gryffindor," said the Professor. "Yes, these are Bowtruckles, and as Miss Granger rightly said, they generally live in trees whose wood is of wand quality. Does anyone here know what they eat?"

This time Kushina answered, "woodlice," which explained to those wondering why what they had taken to be grains of brown rice were moving. "But fairy eggs are a treat if they can get them."

"Good girl, take five points… So, whenever you need leaves or wood from a tree in which a Bowtruckle lodges, it would be wise to have a gift of woodlice ready to distract or placate it. They may not look dangerous, but if angered they will try and gouge at human eyes with their fingers, which, as you can see, are very sharp and not at all desirable near the eyeballs. So if you'd like to gather closer, take a few woodlice and a Bowtruckle - I have enough here for one to be shared between three - you can study them more closely. I want a sketch from each of you with all body parts labeled by the end of the lesson."

The class surged forwards around the trestle table. Kushina and Ron stood back to let Hermione choose their Bowtruckle, the red headed pair was completely ignoring Malfoy and his gang. The three crouched down on the grass some distance away from the table and attempted to persuade their Bowtruckle to remain still long enough for them to draw it. Malfoy tried to antagonize them by speaking of his father talking to the minister a few days before, however the three just ignored him.

Hermione handed the Bowtruckle to Kushina while she said, "here, hold onto the Bowtruckle while I draw its face." Kushina gripped the Bowtruckle lightly but firmly enough that it knew it would be unable to escape. Kushina then tried something that had once worked on a pixy that she had to look at a wing for. She tickled the Bowtruckle under the chin and to the surprise of those around them the tickling seemed to calm the Bowtruckles movements enough that the other two were able to complete their sketches.

Malfoy's swiped at his hand leaving two deep cuts there, he had been gripping it so tight that it had almost snapped and it was quite angry about it. Kushina, Ron and Hermione smirked as Malfoy dropped the Bowtruckle on the ground, as soon as it was released it set off full tilt for the Forbidden Forest. It was quickly swallowed by the tree roots, when the bell tolled distantly over the grounds, Malfoy had no reason to complain to his father about his injuries as Professor Grubbly-Plank had used a common healing spell to fix the cuts.

As Malfoy sulked the trio ignored him and set off across the grounds toward the Greenhouses, where they met up with the Ravenclaw/Gryffindor fourth year class there. As Ginny and Luna passed them they said hello, as Luna pass Kushina she grabbed the younger girl by the shoulders and looked at her intently before she asked, "you alright?" Luna nodded while smiling dreamily.

Ginny on the other hand glared at some nearby Ravenclaw girls, apparently they hadn't backed off even with Kushina's warning that Luna was to be considered her family and thus off limits unless they wished to provoke her wrath. Ginny tapped Kushina on the shoulder, then whispered in her ear, "I'll tell you about it later tonight."

Kushina nodded before she reluctantly let Luna go to get to her next class.

To nobody's surprise, Professor Sprout started their lesson by lecturing them about the importance of OWLS. Kushina wished that all the teachers would stop doing this; she was starting to get an anxious, twisted feeling in her stomach every time she heard it, a feeling that worsened dramatically when Professor Sprout gave them an essay to complete at the end of class. Tired and smelling strongly of dragon dung, Professor Sprouts preferred fertilizer, the Gryffindors trooped back up to the castle with the Hufflepuffs after the forty-five minute long class. They were all looking forward to dinner, none of them felt like talking as it had been a very long tiring day.

Kushina was starving, and she was planning to complete her Herbology essay that night along with her Transfiguration homework, she headed strait to dinner without dropping off her bag in her rooms at Gryffindor Tower. She had barely reached the entrance of the Great Hall when she heard Angelina callout, "Oi, 'Shina!" The team had taken to calling her by the abbreviation that the guardian of her rooms called her sometimes.

Kushina turned around curious as to what the Quidditch captain wanted, "what is it Angelina?"

The dark girl with crazed enthusiasm in her eyes said rapidly, "you haven't gotten detention have you?"

Kushina stared at her with an odd expression before deciding to humor the older girl, "no Angelina. I haven't gotten detention, why do you ask?" Kushina was speaking to the sixth year girl in a tone she normally reserved for when Kisuke was on a sugar high and searching for ideas to invent something with.

"Because the Quidditch tryouts are on Friday! So make sure you don't get detention until after Friday, got it?" With that the dark skinned girl turned away and went off muttering Quidditch strategies to herself.

Kushina watched with a bemused expression on her face, "oookaaay! Now that we've left the Twilight Zone, lets continue to Dinner, shall we self?" With that Kushina entered the Great Hall and made a bee line to Ron and Hermione.

Hermione looked up and asked, "so what kept you? You were right behind us." Ron looked up from his meal also curious as to what kept her.

Kushina piled her plate with food and explained between bites, "Angelina wanted to make sure I knew when the Quidditch tryouts are going to be held. She wants the team to be there so we can see how well the new players will work with the current team and how well the reserve team works together. So she was making sure I didn't have a detention and that I knew better than to get one."

Ron made an indistinct sound of comprehension through his mouthful of food, Hermione wrinkled her nose in silent disgust at his lack of display of manners. Although they had gotten better after Kushina had pointed out that even if he didn't use manners all the time, around Rukia's family he had best be on his most model behavior. He had groaned but allowed Kushina and Hermione to teach him some basic manners.

At least he hardly talked with his mouth full and open at the same time anymore. Something which the Gryffindor Table was extremely grateful for and had made their thanks known to the two girls. Ron had loudly protested the disparaging of his character, the words he used had caused the entire house to goggle at him in shock while the twins declared that they didn't know him anymore. They had promptly collapsed into each others arms and wailed at how they had failed their baby brother.

She glanced at Hermione and saw the same wicked sparkle in her eye before the pair started laughing. Ron looked at both confused, he swallowed what was in his mouth before he asked, "what is it? What's so funny?"

As the girls caught their breath Kushina gasped out, "we'll tell you later Ron."

An hour later the three were in Kushina's rooms studying, or rather Hermione was studying since Kushina and Ron had finished most of their homework during their lunch period. Hermione was only studying because she liked to, Ron looked up at the girls and asked curiously, "so what were the two of you laughing about during dinner?"

The girls glanced at each other before Kushina explained, "we were just remembering how the twins reacted to your speech this summer."

"Oh," Ron muttered before he huffed and said crossly, "that's not exactly all that funny you know."

Kushina shrugged, "it is to us." With that she pulled out the sketch she made of the Bowtruckle and started to label it's anatomy. Ron after several minutes did the same while Hermione continued to read through her Arithmancy book, Ron had taken one look at it and muttered that he was glad he didn't take that class. Hermione of course huffed that it wasn't that difficult to do once you understood the basics, she then commented wryly that Muggle Mathematics was more difficult than Wizarding Mathematics.

After two hours of this Ron and Hermione bid Kushina goodnight and left. Kushina went through her nightly routine and then went to sleep, as she slipped into slumber she wondered what she would dream about this time.

The next two days continued much the same, save the schedule of what class they were taking. On Thursday morning Remus handed everyone their tests back with their scores, some failed dismally while others received O's on their tests. After handing out the tests Remus then started a lecture on various things they should have learned but hadn't due to poor teaching at the time. He told them that he would be holding off on the first Practical lesson until after the full moon, "I don't believe you will have a problem with that seeing as how it will be on a Monday." Remus smiled with a bemused expression on his face at the cheers his announcement produced.

He laughed before he called out, "alright, alright settle down class. I can understand that you're excited to learn something practical. Now I won't tell you what I'll be teaching you about since that would spoil the surprise. However I will tell you this, one of the student's in this room managed it at the age of thirteen and it is normally not taught until your sixth year." At that announcement the class gasped in amazement, shortly after that the bell rung and the class left excitedly, talking to their neighbors wondering what the spell could possibly be and who managed it.

Kushina glanced over her shoulder to see her Papa's eyes glinting in mischief, and thought to herself, _'I bet the teachers all thought you were the good one out of the Marauders. They never would have dreamed that your innocent behavior most of the time masked you more cunning nature.'_

Almost as if he could read his daughters mind Remus gave a dark chuckle and nodded at her before gesturing for her to get to her next class.

Friday was much the same, save that they weren't assigned anymore homework since they had until the next week to complete what they were already given. By this time Ron, Kushina and Neville had managed to vanish their snails and were now attempting to vanish beetles. Hermione was already working on larger animals and objects, Kushina and Ron merely shook their heads, that was their 'Mione always doing everything faster than usual. Even the other Gryffindors were merely proud of her accomplishment not annoyed at her showing off.


	19. Chapter 18: Wolves & Stags, Lions & Dogs

Chapter Eighteen: Wolves and Stags, Lions and Dogs

After the lessons on Friday and after dinner the trio decided to visit Remus and James at their quarters to ask them a question. Ron and Hermione stood back allowing Kushina to give the password to the portrait guarding the Potter's quarters. Kushina looked up at the portrait before she said, "Familia ante omnia."

The door swung open to reveal the living area of the room, Remus was in the chair by the fire while James was at a desk writing a letter. Both looked up at the door opening and upon seeing the three teenagers smiled. "Hey, there you three. What are you doing here?" asked James while he folded the letter and set it aside.

Kushina walked in a dropped her bag next to the couch while Ron and Hermione set theirs next to the coffee table. Kushina then sat down on the couch and said, "not much. We just wanted to ask you and Papa a question."

"What question is that?" asked Remus curiously while never looking up from his book.

Hermione cleared her throat nervously before she asked, "can we come along on this full moon with Moony, Padfoot and Prongs?"

At that both James and Remus looked up sharply, "what? You want to join us on the full moon?" Asked Remus in a shocked tone.

The trio nodded, "yeah it was fun chasing after you during the August Full moon."

Remus snorted and aid, "it's fine if you come along. Lily already said she wouldn't be joining us, she volunteered to guard the front doors so no students could sneak out."

Kushina nodded, "good, I've already extracted promises from the twins and Lee not to use any other passageway besides the Humpback witch one."

James looked up puzzled, "huh? How would they know about that one?" He asked curiously while leaning against the back of Remus' chair.

The trio glanced at each other before Kushina grinned, "they were the ones to find the Marauder's map first. When I was in my Third Year they gave it to me since I was being held captive in the school for my own safety." At that she rolled her eyes and muttered about overprotective adults. The other two of the trio snickered at how the adults had over guarded Kushina during her Third year and it turned out that she was actually was perfectly safe while the Mass murderer was walking loose.

Remus joined in on the chuckling while James was completely confused as to why they were all laughing except for Kushina. Remus reached up and pulled James head down to where it was level with Remus' mouth and said, "I'll tell you later, sweetheart." James boggled at the endearment but shrugged accepting it without complaint.

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At moonrise, James, Sirius, Severus, and the trio waited for Remus to finish transforming into Moony. Finally the wolf emerged from the shed where he had transformed and left his clothing. Several students were watching out the window and saw the huge stag standing beside Professor Snape's dog and by the dog was a large lion with a black mane. Standing off to the side were a trio of cats, one was a orange-red tiger, a smallish leopard and a huge cheetah. The leopard was lying on its belly while the tiger was pacing slightly as if antsy, the cheetah on the other hand was lying on its back and had its tail caught between it's front paws, it was licking the tip of the tail.

At the wolfs appearance the trio of cats perked up and the cheetah let go of its tail, the trio knew that they had to be accepted by the Alpha of Remus' pack before he would allow Ron and Hermione to run with him. So the tiger crept on its belly toward the large stag before he rolled over on his back exposing his stomach to the large herbivores hooves and antlers. The stag lowered its head and sniffed the tiger before it raised its head and snorted, it then nudged the tiger up and toward the other pair of animals. The dog took a few sniffs before barking happily while the lion sniffed it a few times then began grooming the young tiger.

The leopard went through the same method as the tiger with much the same results save that the tiger was only groomed on the face while the leopard was pinned then groomed. The cheetah approached the stag last and was only partially crouching on its belly while the other two had crept along with their bellies pressed to the ground. The cheetah didn't roll on its back instead it licked the muzzle of the stag and purred a greeting to it. The stag snorted before it started grooming the cheetah then shoved it toward the lion and dog. The dog barked before playfully tackling the cheetah and being pinned by the large cat, the cat started to groom the dog around the face before finally letting the dog up. The cheetah then approached the lion carefully while keeping up a constant purr and rubbed its cheek against the lions.

During the cheetah's greeting the stag, lion and dog, the pair of cats approached the wolf carefully, but it only growled a greeting and licked them both after they had given him a lick upon the muzzle. The cheetah then bounded over and play tackled the wolf while giving off a chirping sound. The Ravenclaws were wondering aloud who the trio of cats were since they were young as you could tell by the appearance of the cats. The cheetah still had a small mantle along its back made up of longer fur. The tiger had big paws that seemed to be to large for its body and it was lanky as if it just had a growth spurt, while the leopard was .

The trio of cats tussled and played with the large tiger dominating the play fighting but being gentle with the smaller leopard and the slighter cheetah. At the same time that young cats were play fighting the wolf had pounced on the dog and the lion had playfully lunged at the stag. Soon all of the animals were racing from one side of the grounds to the other, the cheetah was the fastest but it needed to rest once an a while to catch it's breath and cool down.

Some of the students ventured to the Entrance Hall only to find Professor Lily in her animagus form lying in front of the doors. There was no way to sneak past her either, as soon as one of the students got within ten feet of the door the lioness raised her head and growled sharply. As if to warn them not to even think about going outside, she then laid her head back on her front paws and watched until they left the Entrance Hall.

The students quickly spread the word that Professor Lily was guarding the front doors and no one was going outside tonight. Many of the students decided to watch out the windows at the playfulness of the large predators and one herbivore. The lion snuck up behind the large dog before it roared, the dog yelped and ran without even looking back, the lion had laid down on its stomach when the dog ran and it seemed to be laughing. The dog finally looked back to see the lion lying down where he had been sitting and started barking as if he was scolding the lion for scaring him.

While the lion startled the dog, the stag was lying on its side in the shade of Hagrid's hut and the wolf came padding over to it finally plopping down next to the large stag after butting it with its head. The stag had begun grooming the wolf around the face and neck while the wolf was panting. The wolf finally laid its head on its paws and closed its eyes as if to take a nap.

The lion and dog were also lying beside one another and the dog was grooming the lions mane, the lion was giving short growls and was kneading the ground by the dogs hind legs. The trio of cats were still playfully fighting and chasing each other from one side of the grounds to another. At one point the cheetah was chasing the tiger and reached out to trip it, it sent the tiger tumbling head over heels. The leopard had scaled one of the trees by the lake and was seemingly laughing at the tigers tumble.

The tiger huffed and stalked into the lake where it played at the waters edge while the cheetah sat at the shore giving off a high pitched cry in-between it's panting. The tiger eventually charged out of the water and tackled the cheetah, they tumbled together head over heels and play fought.

After several hours of the two fighting and chasing each other up and down the shore the leopard climbed down the tree to join in on the play. After two hours the trio of cats had collapsed into a pile and were sleeping off their play. During their play all the students went to sleep wondering who the trio of cats were except for the Gryffindors, they all knew who the trio was since three of their number was missing and they had left earlier in the evening. Neville had snickered over the speculations of when they could have learned how to become an animagus anyway. He didn't bother to mention that he could have joined them as well tonight but had declined to go just yet.

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After moonset, Remus woke to find himself with Prongs curled up around him, he was shielded from the cold and when he looked over Prongs' back he could see Padfoot curled up with Shadow, Severus' animagus form. And to the left he could see Streak, Kushina's animagus form, so named because when she started running all you could see was a streak of color and also for the stripes running down her back and hips. Streak was curled up in a pile with Bashira, (pronounced Bah sheer ah) Hermione's animagus form, Kushina had suggested the name due to its common meaning of well-educated or wise. She wisely didn't mention that it could also mean the one who predicts good things to come in Swahili. The two girls were curled up on either side of Tadaharu, Ron's animagus form, Kushina suggested the name since it was written with the character that stood for loyalty; faithfulness and the character for clear up.

He could see his daughter bring up her head from where it was resting on Ron's flank who had his paw draped over Hermione's stomach. As soon as she could see that he was awake she got up and stretched before she padded over to the shed where he left his clothes the night before. When she exited the shed she had the bag holding his clothes in her mouth. She dropped it where he could reach it before she turned her back to him to give him enough privacy in which to slip into his clothes.

After he got dressed, she walked over to Padfoot and Shadow to nudge them awake, after the two males were awake she stalked over to the sleeping teens and pounced on them. They started awake and snarled at her for waking them as rudely as she had, Remus watched in amusement as his daughter was chased by her friends into the school. All three leaping over the reclined Lily, who merely snorted at their early morning antics and yawned.

She then got up and stretched before she padded outside to greet Shadow and Padfoot. Prongs rose to his feet and stretched, he then ducked his head to nudge Remus' shoulder, Remus smiled and patted the large deer on the side of his neck. Prongs then transformed back into James and let Remus lean on his shoulder, although the potion helped the transformation and eased the pain, his joints still felt the changes the morning after. He remembered that when he had a pack the pain was a lot less then it was now, maybe after a few more moons the pain would be back to where it used to be.

Severus was back in human form and was walking up the front steps into the castle with Padfoot on his heels. Lily walked in behind Remus and James then closed the doors behind her before walking down the dungeon steps after Severus and Sirius. Remus and James walked up the stairs to the seventh floor, both stood tiredly in front of the door to their room before James uttered the password. The door swung open and the two stumbled in, as they made their way to their bed room Remus tiredly pulled his clothes off and once stripped dropped face first onto the bed.

James being less tired then his mate picked up the trail of clothes he left behind and dropped them into the hamper with his own before joining him on the bed. Remus curled up around James with a happy murmur, he ran his fingers through Remus' grey streaked hair, though their was less grey in it now than before. James happily noted that Remus wasn't as skinny as he was just this August, he could still use a few more good meals but was otherwise back at a healthy weight.

While the adults came back into the castle the trio raced up the stairs to the seventh floor and the Gryffindor Common room, just before they had reached the Fat Lady Kushina transformed back into her human form and gave her the password, "Gillyweed." The Fat Lady swung open in time for Hermione and Ron to run into the common room without stopping, they slid to a stop in front of the stairs. Kushina walked in casually, and said, "we should change clothes. The ones we're wearing are a bit dirty from all of the playing we did last night."

Bashira and Tadaharu transformed back into Ron and Hermione, Hermione nodded wryly in agreement as she looked down at her dusty and grass stained jeans and blouse. Ron stared bemusedly at Kushina and Hermione's attire and how it was stained, he then looked down at his before grimacing. "I think you're right Kushina, a change of clothes is needed." Ron said before he walked up the stairs to the boys dorm.

Hermione laughed before walking up the girls dorm stairs backwards, "I'll never get used to him talking like that. We're a bad influence on him you know."

Kushina shrugged before she commented with her eyes twinkling, "only in his brother's opinions we are." With that she walked into her rooms and stalked into the bathroom where she stripped her clothes off then jumped in the hot bath that Winky had prepared for her.

After an hour long soak she climbed out of the tub, dried off and got dressed for the day. Since it was the weekend she wore a tee-shirt and a pair of jeans, the shirt had a slogan on it_. _Personally she though Kisuke was a little insane for having bought her those shirts but she did like some of the sayings on them.

She then sat on the edge of her bed and pulled on a pair of knee high boots that laced up the sides, they had a three inch heel which made her one inch taller then Hermione when she was wearing sandals. Kushina then picked up her book bag and walked out into the common room to find Ron lying lazily on the couch. Hermione on the other hand was reading a book, it was fiction but it was still a book, she looked up over the edge of it and when she saw the saying on the front of Kushina's tee-shirt she started giggling. Ron looked up and read the saying aloud, "'Ambition is just a lame excuse for not having enough sense to be lazy.' Huh? I wonder what the Slytherin's will make of your shirt then. After all their house is for the Ambitious," Ron commented with a smirk.

Kushina shrugged, "who knows. Let's get going breakfast is starting in a few minutes and I need to do Luna and Hermione's hair." With that she walked out the door and strode down the hall at a ground eating pace. Hermione and Ron followed at a more sedate pace and when they reached the Stag and Wolf portrait it opened allowing Remus and James outside.

The Professors stopped and greeted the pair, "hello, Ron, Hermione. How are you feeling?"

Ron shrugged, "we're fine. Kushina's already heading down to breakfast to meet up with Luna."

"We were about to join her care to walk with us?" Hermione asked quietly.

Remus glanced at James but nodded, "sure. We need to get something to eat anyway, romping around as Moony and Prongs took up a lot of energy."

As the four walked down the stairs Ron commented, "you do know that my twin brothers worship the very ground the Marauders walked on, right?" As he asked that he looked over at James.

James blinked then glanced at Ron in shock, "what? What do you mean your brothers worship the ground the Marauders walked on?"

Hermione chuckled before she explained, "Fred and George found the Marauders map and once they found out that the Marauders were pranksters they dedicated themselves to following in the Marauders footsteps. Kushina has been keeping the identity of the Marauders a secret from them since she found out who they were. She even convinced Sirius that it would be fun if he kept the fact he's Padfoot a secret. I don't know when she plans on revealing it to them." James gaped in shock at his daughters wicked sense of humor.

James then turned to Remus and as they walked into the Great Hall accusingly said, "you have corrupted our daughter!"

Remus gave him an innocent look, "why whatever do you mean James? I haven't corrupted Kushina." The four tables looked over at the doors in puzzlement, they all had no clue as to what James was talking about.

They eventually turned back to their breakfasts when neither of the two men said anything else. James blushed and stalked toward the Staff table to eat his breakfast. Kushina was sitting at the Ravenclaw table she was in the process of French braiding the hair on the sides of Luna's head. One side was already finished and she was almost finished with the other, when she reached the same length as the other side she murmured a spell to keep the braid in its form. She then reached up and pulled all the loose hair into a pony tail that she then twisted and rolled into a bun, she then murmured the spell to hold it in place once that was finished she finished braiding the pair of French braids and looped them around the bun. She tucked the ends of the braid under the bun and once again used the spell to pin it in place.

Once she was finished she murmured, "there, all done." Kushina looked up at the door in time to see her Dad blush and stalk up to the Staff table. She chuckled quietly before calling out, "Hermione get over here and sit down!"

Hermione sat down next to Luna and engaged the younger girl in a conversation about charms, the spell that caused her hair to be wavy instead of busy was still working so Kushina went right to work. She gathered the hair on the top and sides of Hermione's head into a ponytail, after she secured it with a spell Kushina then gathered the rest and put it into a ponytail only two inches below the first. Kushina held the top ponytail downward and slightly to the left, she then took the bottom ponytail, she took it and wrapped it around the top ponytail until the bottom was pointing above the top to the right of it. She then took the bottom ponytail and pulled it over the base of the top ponytail she then wove the extra hair from the bottom pony tail around the area where the top and bottom ponytails met. She then took the top ponytail and wrapped it around the base of the bottom one, once she was finished with that she wove it around the area where the two ponytails met. She then murmured the spell to keep it all in place so it would hold for several hours.

Kushina finished by pulling a few strands of hair out of the style in the front to frame Hermione's face with. Just as she finished she heard the door open suddenly and looked up to see Kenpachi standing framed by the doors. She leaned down and murmured in Hermione's ear, "well, well, well. Look who showed up in time to see your new hairdo." Hermione blushed bright red and slapped Kushina on the arm, Kushina merely laughed in response to the slap.

She rose to her feet and with a wicked smile said, "good morning Kenpachi!" Yachiru popped over his shoulder and waved at Kushina before bounding over to Hermione.

Yachiru blinked up at Hermione and said, "wow, Ka-Chan! You look pretty!"

"Oh, so that means I didn't look pretty before?" Hermione teasingly asked while giving the pink haired child a faux pout.

Yachiru shook her head, "no, Ka-Chan you were pretty before but now you're prettier!" Yachiru then turned to Kenpachi and asked chirpily, "right Kenny?"

Hermione glanced at Kenpachi in time to see him gaping at her, when Yachiru asked him the question he closed his mouth and swallowed thickly. Hermione then shot a look over at the very smug Kushina, when Kushina noticed Hermione gaze she gave Hermione a hand sign that meant, '_go for the kill.'_

Hermione smirked and thought to herself, _'I'm so glad I decided to wear my skirt and blouse today.'_ Hermione was wearing a loose ankle-length skirt that had a slit in the side up to mid-thigh, her blouse was blood red and brought out the flush of her cheeks, she had the first two buttons undone showing the hollow of her throat. She got up from her seat and walked with a deliberate sway to her hips, she stopped three inches away from Kenpachi and asked with a sultry purr, "well, do you agree with Yachiru? Do I look prettier than before?" As she asked him she had lowered her eyelids to give a more seductive cast to her face.

Yachiru watched from her perch next to Luna as Kenpachi tried to answer but couldn't get the words past his vocal cords. Kenpachi finally settled for nodding rapidly, and Hermione smiled up at him before she said, "good." She reached up and tugged the captain down to where there was only an inch between them, she then pulled off his eye patch so she could stare him right in the eye. She then said, "after your spar with Kushina… you and I need to have a little talk Kenpachi Zaraki."

Kenpachi's eyes widened in shock, since a: no one had ever removed his eye patch before and b: Hermione was still standing even with his spiritual pressure rolling over her. He blinked a bit then he realized that his spiritual pressure wasn't trying to crush her like it normally did to someone when they were near him when he took of his eye patch. Instead it was wrapping around her and purring in delight, he could have sworn it was doing more than just wrapping around her it seemed to be cradling and caressing her own spiritual pressure.

Kushina watched and snickered at the completely bamboozled look on his face, Kenpachi looked as if someone had hit him with either a large tree or a bus. She heard Anubis comment, _**'yes I believe your friend Hermione just hit him with a clue bat or clue bus, that she is open to a relationship with him. The fact that his spiritual pressure seems to adore her as well is throwing him off I think.'**_

Kushina stepped forward and cleared her throat, "Hermione, do you mind not breaking my sparring partner? I'd kind of like to spar with him after all, you can chat with him tomorrow, alright?" She asked her friend in a teasing tone, Hermione glanced over at Kushina before nodding.

She then stepped away from Kenpachi and went over to Yachiru, she leaned over and picked up the small girl, "I think I'll show Yachiru some of the fun things to do in Hogwarts." Yachiru giggled as Hermione tickled her.

While Kushina and Kenpachi were off sparing, Kushina was also teasing Kenpachi mercilessly, Hermione was showing Yachiru all of the secret passageways and even the one to Honeyduke's Candy store.

Yachiru pouted up at her and asked, "can we go now?"

Hermione hummed in thought before nodding, "sure. So long as you promise to stay by my side at all times." She warned while holding out her hand for Yachiru to take.

Yachiru nodded rapidly, "okay, Ka-Chan!"

Hermione made sure she had some money on her then whispered the password to the statue and slipped down into the passageway after it opened. She then held up her wand and cast, "Lumos," which lit up the tunnel. She held Yachiru's hand as they walked to Hogsmead, after about an hour they reached the end of the tunnel. After Hermione made sure no one was in the cellar she popped out of the tunnel and cast a Disillusionment Charm on them both. She then snuck them out of the building and took Yachiru to the Three Broomsticks, since it was almost lunchtime.

Madam Rosmerta looked up when the door to her pub opened, she was a bit surprised to see Hermione in the doorway but since the trio had sometimes snuck into Hogsmeade before the weekends began. So Rosmerta smiled in welcome before she said, "hello Hermione. Who is this?" she asked while looking curiously at Yachiru.

Hermione smiled softly down at Yachiru while running her fingers through her soft short pink hair, "this is Yachiru. Yachiru this is Madam Rosmerta, she runs this pub. Say hello," Hermione said fondly.

Yachiru peeked around Hermione's skirt and said, "hello."

Madam Rosmerta smiled down at the pink haired child and said, "what can I do for you Hermione?"

Hermione picked Yachiru up and held the toddler on her hip, "I was wondering if we could get some soup and a couple of sandwiches. It's almost lunchtime and I want to show Yachiru around Hogsmeade."

Madam Rosmerta nodded, "alright, does cheddar broccoli soup sound good? I was thinking ham and cheese sandwiches would be delicious with that." She commented quietly while Yachiru was looking around the pub.

Hermione smiled and nodded, "that sounds fine. I'll be at our usual table," she added while walking toward the table that had been dubbed by the inhabitants of Hogsmeade as the Golden Trio's corner.

After lunch, Yachiru had loved the soup, Hermione tactfully didn't mention that it had vegetables in it, the pair went off to look at the shops around Hogsmeade. Hermione took her to Gladrags Wizardwear first to let her look around, she found a scarf that she like, it only cost three sickles so Hermione bought it for her. The days were starting to get a bit chilly after all, after Gladrags was Zonko's Joke Shop, she murmured in Yachiru's ear, "Fred and George's tricks and gags are better." Yachiru giggled at some of the items but they left without buying anything.

Dervish and Bangs fascinated Yachiru and she kept looking around, sometimes bringing something to Hermione and asking what it did. Hermione answered her questions as best as she could, they left the shop with having bought a sneakascope for Yachiru. Hermione went into Scrivenshaft's quill shop and picked up a black-and-gold pheasant-quill that she had been wanting. Yachiru was amazed at how many quills the shop carried, she giggled over the dictating quill with auto-correct charms on it, she held one up for Hermione to see and said, "Kenny would love to have this to do his paperwork if it could write in Japanese."

Hermione laughed quietly, as she took the quill away from Yachiru, "maybe I'll figure out a way to make it possible." She said with mischief sparkling in her brown eyes.

After that they went into Honeyduke's to buy a few bars of chocolate for Yachiru and to pick up some chocolate frogs for Kenpachi along with some chocoballs. After they paid for the candy, Hermione asked Yachiru if she want to go back to Hogwarts the way they came or go a different route. Yachiru voted a different route, so Hermione showed her the Shrieking shack, she moved the loose board aside so they could duck into the shack. Once inside the shack she showed Yachiru the trapdoor leading to the tunnel.

Hermione explained as they walked down the narrow tunnel, "the Whomping Willow guards the entrance to the tunnel that leads to the shrieking shack. Only a few people know how to get it open, there is a knot at the base of the willow. If you press the knot then the willow freezes for a few minutes, so when I press the knot you're to run away from the willow. I'll be right behind you, okay?" Yachiru nodded in agreement.

Hermione pressed the knot and they both raced away from the tree before it could unfreeze and hit them. They tumbled to the ground giggling, thankfully no one was there to witness the sight. Hermione helped Yachiru up and said, "well I think Kenpachi and Kushina should be finished sparring by now." With that she picked up the little girl and carried her into the Entrance Hall, they then made their way up to the seventh floor to Gryffindor Tower.

Yachiru blinked up at the portrait as Hermione gave her the password, and the Fat Lady swung open to let them in. The only ones in the common room were Dean and Seamus who were playing exploding snap. The two boys looked up when they entered the common room, they waved hello at Hermione then went back to their game. Hermione approached the portrait and asked, "Minato, do you know where Kushina is?"

The blond man looked up from his seemingly never-ending pile of paperwork and said while cocking his head to the left, "hmm. She seems to be in the kitchens."

Hermione nodded and said, "thanks Minato." She then picked up Yachiru again and left the common room. She then made her way down stairs to the kitchens, she stopped in front of the bowl of fruit and tickled the pear.

Hermione and Yachiru walked into the kitchen to find both Kushina and Kenpachi eating at a rapid pace. Yachiru clapped her hands and bounded over to her Kenny, she sat down beside him and started telling him about everything she saw while he was playing with Pretty-Pretty.

Kenpachi merely hummed in the appropriate spots and listened as his pink haired lieutenant chattered on about her day. He was very determinedly keeping his eyes from looking toward Hermione and Kushina smirked at her sparring partners discomfort. Kushina caught Hermione's eye and used ANBU Hand signs to tell her, "I'm going to take Yachiru to visit the Headmaster. Talk to Kenpachi." (Well actually directly translated the signs would mean, "I'm taking the client to the Hokage. Talk to the target." ) But Kushina certainly wasn't going to tell Hermione that she had taught them ANBU hand signs for missions.

Kushina stood up and said, "Yachiru how would you like to see a pretty bird?"

Yachiru tackled Kushina as she chirped, "yes, Pretty-Pretty! Take me to see the pretty bird!" Kushina ignored the slightly panicked look on Kenpachi's face as she cheerfully left the kitchens. Several Hufflepuffs and Slytherin's noticed her wickedly glee filled look and wisely avoided her. Kushina bounded up the stairs to the second floor with Yachiru holding onto her back. She slid to a stop in front of the gargoyle statue that guarded the entrance to the Headmasters office. She smiled at the gargoyle and chirped, "hello Igor, sugar quills."

With that the gargoyle leapt aside to allow Kushina and Yachiru past, before she could knock on the door Kushina heard the Headmaster call out, "come in." He looked up as they entered and his blue eyes twinkled in delight to see the young woman he had come to view as a granddaughter enter his office. "Kushina what brings you by?" He asked while putting aside his quill and put the stopper back into his inkwell.

Kushina walked in with her golden eyes glinting in mischief, "oh, not much. I just promised Yachiru to show her the pretty bird in your office."

Albus blinked and said, "well Fawkes will certainly enjoy the company. He won't be having a burning day for a while so he's still as beautiful as ever." He commented playfully at his vain Phoenix. Fawkes trilled in an affronted tone and ignored his Wizard, instead he turned is attention to the pink haired child that wasn't really a child, he could sense that she was a Shinigami and trilled happily when she started petting his feathers. While Yachiru and Fawkes were getting along Kushina struck up a discussion about when she would begin teaching Kido.

"I was thinking that Remus could announce the class on Monday after classes resume from the weekend and the demonstration could be held on Saturday of the same week. Full time class of it wouldn't happen until about a week after the demonstration that way people have time to decide if they want to learn it. I figure we can put sign up sheets all over the castle and charm them so only the person signing up can see their name as well as only being able to sign their own names." Kushina commented.

Albus nodded, before he commented, "that sounds like a good idea my dear. Have you decided how you are going to structure you classes?" He asked curiously of the red haired woman.

She nodded, "yeah, I figure I'll do them by year. I'll have helpers so I'm not too worried about controlling the class besides I figure I can summon Thanatos and Anubis to help if the class gets too unruly." She commented wryly. Albus nodded again then glanced over to see Fawkes preening Yachiru's hair while she was crooning how pretty his feathers were. He shook his head and commented quietly to Kushina, "he's going to be puffed up about his appearance now."

Kushina laughed but nodded, "true. For my classes I figured that I would do one year per day, Monday would be for fourth years, Tuesday for Fifth, Wednesday for the Sixth and Thursday for Seventh, Fridays would alternate between the fourth and Fifth years and the Sixth and seventh years. On Saturday would be a completely voluntary class, it's their choice to show up. I'll post the hours for that on the day before the Saturday in question. There will be no classes on Hogsmead weekends and on days that there is scheduled to be a Quidditch match."

Albus nodded, and the portraits on the walls murmured their approval, "that sounds perfect Kushina."

Yachiru bounded over to them and said, "Pretty-Pretty it's time for me and Kenny to get going."

Kushina looked down at the small lieutenant and said, "alright Yachiru." Kushina then pulled out the map and after activating it scanned it for Hermione and Kenpachi's names. She found them still in the kitchen so she deactivated the map and said, "they're still in the kitchens so let's go get your Kenny and get you guys back home." With that she turned around and left the headmaster's office.

She looked down at Yachiru and asked with a playful glint in her eye, "how would you like to ride a cheetah?"

Yachiru looked up at her puzzled, "what's a cheetah?"

Kushina blinked in shock before answering, "a cheetah is a very fast big cat."

Yachiru bounced in place and said, "then yes, I want to ride a cheetah!"

Kushina laughed before she said, "alright then. After I transform climb on my back but try to sit toward my front paws, okay?"

Yachiru nodded rapidly and stared as Kushina shifted into Streak, Yachiru then climbed onto Streaks back and held onto the long fur at her neck. After checking to make sure that Yachiru wouldn't fall off of her Kushina bounded down the stairs with Yachiru squealing in delight at the speed that Kushina was achieving racing down the stairs. Kushina finally slid to a stop in front of the Kitchen door and Yachiru opened the door to let the big cat in. When they entered they saw Hermione and Kenpachi being ignored by the house elves and they were ignoring the house elves in favor of kissing and talking quietly.

Kushina transformed back and put her hand over Yachiru's mouth before Yachiru could shout happily about her Kenny and Ka-Chan kissing. She then cleared her throat causing the kissing pair to jump and turn toward the door. Kushina was delighted to see both Hermione and Kenpachi blush bright red. Kushina snapped a quick picture of the blushing duo before she said, "I'm sorry to interrupt but Kenpachi and Yachiru have to get back to their division."

Kenpachi scowled but sighed in resignation before he got up and said, "thanks for the spar Kushina." He then leaned over and gave Hermione a brief kiss goodbye before he gestured for Yachiru to get over by him.

Kushina gave him a nod of acknowledgement then opened a portal for him and Yachiru. The pair left through the doorway and after the doors disappeared Kushina smirked at Hermione, "so that was rather fast." Kushina teased.

Hermione slapped her friend on the shoulder before retorting, "we're only kissing." Hermione paused and looked at her friend with a wistful expression, "besides I have the feeling that this is forever. You know?"

Kushina nodded while patting Hermione on the shoulder, "yeah, I know how you feel… Come on, it's almost dinner time. Merlin only knows what Ron's been up to this entire time. I have no idea as to when Angelina is planning to announce who made the team."

With that Kushina gestured for Hermione to proceed her to the Great Hall. Hermione curtsied and said, "why thank thee my lady." The pair of girls giggled as the walked toward the dinning hall.

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Kenpachi walked out of the Senkaimon and found his entire division being yelled at by a very angry Ichigo. He raised his brow at the sight before he coughed to get Ichigo's attention, "Ichigo why are you yelling at my men?" Asked Kenpachi once Ichigo was looking at him, while Ichigo had her back to them the men ran away from her.

Ichigo snarled, "they decided it would be a good thing to harass Hanataro from Squad Four. I like Hanataro, he helped me when I broke into the Seireitei to rescue Rukia. And I'm not about to let anyone hurt him, got it?" Ichigo's brown eyes were flashing an almost amber color signifying that her hollow agreed with the statement.

Kenpachi frowned in displeasure, "they were harassing a Fourth division member?"

At Ichigo's nod he scowled, "idiots, who the hell do they think patches them up after fights. Don't worry I'll talk to them," at that Kenpachi gave him a vicious grin and cackled before racing off after his terrified men.

Yachiru had stayed behind and said, "hello, Ichi-Ichi. How was your day?"

Ichigo picked up Yachiru absent-mindedly before walking off telling her all about her day and how she had gotten Byakuya to panic when she disappeared to visit Ganju and Kukaku in the Rukongai. Yachiru giggled as she listened to Ichigo talking about how Ganju got his big sister mad at him enough to knock him clear through five walls.


	20. Chapter 19: Protectors & Demonstrations

Chapter Nineteen: Protectors and Demonstrations

The students were talking as they waited for their D.A.D.A. lesson to begin, Professor Lupin had said that he was going to teach them something that was normally only taught to sixth years and above. The only ones not talking among them were Ron, Hermione and Kushina, Kushina was leaning against the wall opposite the door, Hermione was reading a book next to her while Ron was talking to Neville about their Herbology project. The door opened to reveal Professor Lupin who raised his eyebrows at how many students were outside his classroom, "eager are we?" He asked with amusement sparkling in his gold eyes.

With that he gestured for the students to enter the classroom, the trio was the last to enter, Ron and Hermione entered while Kushina hung back to talk to her Papa. She stopped by him and sniffed exaggeratedly, "hmmm, I smell Dad's aftershave. Were you and Daddy being naughty?" She asked wickedly, Remus blushed bright red before he cleared his throat and looked everywhere but at her.

She giggled before bouncing into the classroom, as she took her seat by Hermione and Ron she smirked at her Papa. He pointedly ignored his daughters look and walked to the front of the classroom, "good evening class."

"Good evening Professor Lupin!" The class chorused, not even Malfoy could complain about how Professor Lupin taught and he couldn't even complain about the way he dressed anymore since Professor Potter got a hold of Remus' wardrobe.

"The spell that I'm going to teach you is the only known defense against two Dark Creatures, Lethifold and Dementors." At that the students gasped in shock and amazement, Remus smiled, "yes, I'll be teaching you the Patronus charm. I want the only student among you to please come up to the front of the class and cast the spell. This is to show that all of you are perfectly capable of performing the charm after all they managed it at the age of thirteen." At that he gave a pointed stare at the students who had been muttering about how they couldn't possible be able to perform the spell. Said muttering students quickly shut up and listened.

To the shock of most of the class, Kushina got up and walked to the front of the classroom to stand by Remus. Remus smiled down at her and said, "you may perform the spell whenever you are ready, Miss Potter." With that Remus backed away from her and leaned against his desk. As he leaned back he explained the spell and how it worked, "what you need is a happy memory, if you have that you can cast the Patronus charm. The real trick is having a happy enough memory, the memory can't be generic, like passing a test for example. I have no idea what Miss Potter uses to fuel her memory but lately I've been using the memory of finding James and Lily alive for mine."

Kushina looked over her shoulder at him, "I'm using the same memory for this one." With that she closed her eyes and concentrated on her memory. She then snapped her eyes open suddenly and whispered, "Expecto Patronum." To the surprise of the students a silver light shot out of her wand and took a solid form. A huge silver stag charged from her and once it stopped charging it looked around as if to ask, 'where's the danger?'

It walked toward the front of the classroom and its caster, it halted inches from her and gave a soft snort. Remus raised his eyebrows in shock and said, "well that's unexpected. Patronus' almost never make noises, usually there is not enough of a good memory attached to them to cause it to do that. If the memory fueling the spell has the person represented by the Patronus in it, that makes the spell twice as powerful."

Everyone blinked at that information, and the Gryffindors turned to Hermione for information, Hermione rolled her eyes but explained, "the stag is a representation of Professor James Potter. Kushina used her memory of finding him alive to power it so that made the spell more powerful than usual."

Remus clapped his hands together and said, "right. Lets get started, everyone stand up and move to the sides of the room and I'll get rid of these desks for now." Everyone stood up and moved out of the way while Remus shrunk the desks to move them into a cabinet at the side of the room. "There, alright I want everyone to spread out and remember the incantation is Expecto Patronum. And also try to use the happiest memory you can if possible."

Everyone spread out and began casting, as they were casting, Remus walked around and said, "if you don't get it right the first time don't be worried. We'll keep studying the spell until everyone has a rudimentary hang of it. It doesn't have to be corporal but it certainly does help if faced with a Dementor."

Some students got mist on the fifth try, others couldn't even get that, Kushina was giving advice out such as, "try a different memory if that one won't work. Sometime just changing which memory you use can have drastic effects of the spell."

After an hour of this Remus stopped them from casting any further, all he would say on the subject was, "we don't want you straining yourselves besides…I have an announcement to make."

At that the students perked up and looked at him from their newly returned desks, Kushina pretended to be interested in the scratches on the desk. Only a few noticed her sudden interest in the desktop. Remus laughed and continued, "a voluntary class has been offered by the student of an old friend of the Headmaster. He trusts her judgment and if she had accepted she would have been your D.A.D.A. Professor this year. But she had obligations to take care of and declined."

The class sighed in relief, Remus chuckled but scolded them, "now, now. She's a good woman, I've met her this summer and she knows what she's talking about. But enough of that, as I said the class is voluntary which means you will have to sign yourselves up for it. A demonstrational class will be held on Saturday in the room of Requirement, classes will be done by year and not by house." Some of the Slytherins looked astonished and Remus remarked, "yes this means all four houses will be in the same class. As I understand it the teacher will have two assistants at all times, the teacher will also be having guests coming by to teach some of the spells."

After that he dismissed the class for the day, as they walked back to their common rooms they talked about what the new class could possibly be teaching. Ron and Hermione engaged Kushina in conversation about her cousin who had snuck out of the Seireitei to visit her. Kushina chuckled and told them about how Ichigo had been sneaking into the Rukongai to get away from Byakuya. Her eyes glinted and she commented, "Ichigo's visiting Uncle 'Rus and Snuffles right now actually. Want to go surprise them?" She asked with a wicked smile.

Ron and Hermione looked at each other then chorused, "sure!" The trio went to their common room and dropped off their book bags in their rooms before racing down to the dungeons.

By Friday all but six people were able to manifest a corporal Patronus, of those six only two were Gryffindors. Gregory Goyle was able to produce a medium dense mist while Vincent Crabbe produced a slightly thicker mist. Pansy's mist was barely there while Millicent's was almost corporal, Lavender and Parvati's were the same as Millicent's. Remus smiled at those who had managed to finally manifest a corporal Patronus, "well done. All of you well done, you've progressed much faster than I could have imagined, for those of you who have yet to get a corporal Patronus keep practicing using different memories."

Remus then spoke up while the one who had managed it were looking at their Patronus, "remember that the demonstration will be held tomorrow for the voluntary class. All years are invited to watch but only fourth year and above can take the class. I understand that the Professor is going to be teaching for at least three years. However Albus might be able to talk them into continuing after those three years are up." He shrugged and commented, "it all depends on what happens in those three years."

He then leaned back and watched the students as they watched their Patronus' interacting with each other. Ron's Jack Russell Terrier was barking at his feet and Hermione's stallion was snorting and tossing its head beside her. While Dean's Alligator was in the corner hissing every time Seamus' Fox jumped out of the way of its jaws. Draco's Hawk was watching Theodore's Eagle warily while Blaise's humming bird was staying far away from the predatory birds. On the other hand Daphne's Cougar was lying down with Tracy's Coyote and Neville's Bear was snoozing away in the corner opposite of Dean's Alligator. Kushina's Stag was standing by his desk and surveying the chaotic classroom, Remus chuckled at the animals antics.

After the Patronus' disappeared Remus dismissed the children until Monday, as they left he commented, "I'll see you tomorrow for the demonstration. I'm rather curious as to what they are teaching myself."

The next day everyone was waiting anxiously outside the Room of Requirement for the Headmaster to get there. Once the headmaster arrived he quickly paced in front of the tapestry and a door appeared across from it. He gestured for the students to enter and they found it to be much the same as the time that Kushina was sparring with Kenpachi.

Kushina entered last, much to Ron's surprise and delight Rukia followed her into the room as well as Shuhei and Kensei. To the surprise of the students the three made their way to the open area in the middle of the stands. They stood behind the Headmaster as he cast Sonorous on himself, "Greetings. Welcome to the Shinigami Arts Class, behind me are three users of a type of magic called Kido. In my youth I had met a young woman named Yoruichi Shihoin, she used Kido and in return for her teaching me the art I taught her how to perform the Animagus transformation." The students murmured in shock, their Headmaster knew this Kido magic.

Albus waited until the murmurs had died down before speaking again. "I will allow the three behind me to introduce themselves to you after I'm finished telling you about what you can learn should you take this class. One is called Shunpo, it's the ability to move fast, it's aptly named as the Flash Step. Yoruichi was actually a master of this specific art, she was good enough to have been called by her contemporaries as the Flash Goddess. Second is actual kido spells, I understand that your professor will be teaching you mostly binding spells and very few destructive ones. I agree that this is for the best as the destructive spells can backfire on a user that is unfamiliar with the way these spells work." At that he stared down all the people grumbling about how they wanted to learn the cool spells not just the binding ones.

The grumblers and complainers quickly shut up at the look the headmaster was giving them, what most didn't know was that this was only his mildly annoyed look not his angry look. As they ceased their complaints the Headmaster canceled his sonorous and allowed the three to step forward. He cast the sonorous on the two Shinigami's while Kushina cast it on herself. Kushina gestured for them to introduce themselves first.

Rukia stepped forward and said, "my name is Rukia Kuchiki, I am an unranked officer of the Thirteenth Division of the thirteen court guard squads. I will be helping your Professor demonstrate certain Kido spells." With that she stepped back and allowed Shuhei to step forward.

"My name is Shuhei Hisagi and I am the Lieutenant of the Ninth Division, or in other words the second in command, I will also be demonstrating today." With that Shuhei stepped back into the line next to Rukia.

Kushina stepped forward, "hello, I'm sure you all know who I am since you do go to school with me." Kushina cheekily commented and most of the houses laughed in response. Kushina waited until they stopped laughing before she said, "however I should introduce myself to you anyway. My name is Kushina Ruri Potter-Lupin and I was taught Kido by Yoruichi Shihoin and Hachigen Ushoda, Hachi is the former Lieutenant of the Kido Corps. I will be teaching all of you for my last three years at Hogwart's during which time the Headmaster will no doubt be trying to convince me to continue teaching once I've graduated." Kushina said jokingly while the Headmaster nodded sagely.

The students were in shock, especially the seventh and sixth years, they all thought, 'no way. A fifth year teach us, the Headmaster has to be kidding.' However the headmaster didn't seem to be joking. Kushina continued her explanation, "on occasion the Shinigami have volunteered to come demonstrate and help with certain classes. Rukia here, is very skilled in destructive and binding Kido. While Shuhei is very skilled in combining Kido spells together."

After letting the students absorb the information she had just given them she announced, "the three of us will demonstrate the shunpo technique. However it will take time for you to master this technique. After that Shuhei has agreed to be our binding spell victim while I'll be dodging Shuhei's and Rukia's destructive spells." With that the Headmaster left the field and went up to the stands to sit by Minerva.

Kushina removed the sonorous spells from the pair as well as her own, she then tapped Shuhei's arm and said, "tag. You're it." Before she raced off using shunpo, while Rukia had sped away as well. Shuhei stood blinking for a moment before he gave chase, the three were going a slow pace for them but to the students they were moving to fast to see. However they could all see that they weren't using apparition, since there was a slight blur in the air where the three were racing back and forth avoiding each other while trying to keep from being it.

Eventually the three stopped not even out of breath, Kushina placed the sonorous spell back on herself, "and that was Shunpo, ladies and gentlemen. Amazing isn't it?" She asked perkily. The stunned students nodded their heads in agreement, Kushina beamed up at them, "now it is time for the binding demonstration. So, Shuhei if you would please," she gestured for Shuhei to stand in the middle of the field while Rukia stood fifteen feet from him.

Kushina kept the sonorous charm on herself and said, "the binding Kido are known as Bakudo or the way of binding. The first to be demonstrated will be Sai," as Kushina spoke Rukia cast the spell. She first closed her hand with only the first two fingers held out, she then she pointed them at Shuhei before speaking the spell. To the surprise of the watchers Shuhei's arms seemed to be bound together behind his back.

Kushina commented casually while watching Rukia cast the spell on Shuhei, "that is what Sai does, it binds the arms of the target behind it's back. Very useful against an opponent who has to use a wand to fight, or against a pure sword user like Kenpachi. Of course such a low level spell would never work on a man like Kenpachi Zaraki. Truth be told if Shuhei hadn't agreed to demonstrate it, the spell wouldn't work on him either."

After she commented that Shuhei cracked his neck before he pulsed his Reiatsu and broke the spell by simply pulling his arms apart. He nodded to Rukia and said, "next one should be Shitotsu Sansen."

Rukia blinked but nodded in agreement, she stood across from him and held her palm out toward him. A crackling yellow energy filled her palm and she drew an inverted triangle with it. The three point of the triangle then seemed to have gained points to them and it rocketed toward Shuhei. It hit him with a tremendous force the threw him into the stone slab that Kushina had made appear behind him. It pinned him in place with one point holding him just below the collarbones and the other two right above his hips.

Kushina was once again commenting, "this is considered the thirtieth Bakudo spell, as such it's much harder to get out of then Sai which is number one of the Bakudo spells. The hardest spell to escape from is number ninety-nine which has two parts, Kin and Bankin. The purpose of this one is to pin the target in three places, which as you can see Rukia has done, however if the target moves then only one to two places can be pinned. It depends on the luck of the caster and the stupidity of the target." She commented while sitting only feet from the demonstrating pair.

Rukia broke the spell for Shuhei and allowed him to once again choose the spell that would be cast on him. He thought for a few minutes before suggesting, "how about using Hyapporankan, I know you can cast that."

Rukia nodded, "alright. Brace yourself then." She then held her hand to the side before a blue-white light formed in her hand, she closed her hand on it and it formed into a solid bar. She threw it at him and it multiplied into a hundred more rods, the rods rained down on Shuhei and pinned him once more onto the stone slab.

Shuhei snorted and said, "well done. I've taught you well."

Rukia smirked impishly and said while giving him a mocking bow, "thank you master." Rukia then released Shuhei from the binding, then they both turned to Kushina who cleared her throat.

"Thank you both for that demonstration but there are two other Bakudo spells I'd like to demonstrate. The first being number fifty-eight and the other being number seventy-seven." Kushina said, the two Shinigami's blinked then looked at each other before finally nodding.

Rukia said, "I'll demonstrate number fifty-eight, since I know how to cast that one but I don't know how to do number seventy-seven. What about you Shuhei?"

He shook his head before commenting wryly, "nope, I was never taught that one."

Kushina chuckled, "you're lucky then, I do." Both breathed a sigh of relief, Kushina then said, "Rukia if you would demonstrate first." She gestured with her left hand to the middle of the field.

Rukia stepped over to the indicated area before pausing, "who should I search for?"

Kushina hummed before she said, "you might as well use Shuhei as the target since you know him." She then announced to the watchers, "number fifty-eight is a tracking spell. It's name is Kakushitsuijaku, or summoning of the tracking sparrows. It is a very useful spell if you are looking for a specific person."

Rukia nodded before she knelt, she drew a circle, separated it into quads then wrote the quadrants in the four areas. She then placed her hands just below the drawn circle and it glowed blue, as she was drawing the circle she chanted, "heart of the south, eye of the north, finger of the west, foot of the east, arrive with the wind and depart with the rain." The watchers all saw numbers appear in the blue circle and she called out the numbers that it finished at.

Kushina checked them and found Shuhei right where they said he was, she smiled then stated, "that is exactly what the spell should do. It locates the target, and can be used in conjunction with number seventy-seven for an advantage. Thank you Rukia." She said before taking Rukia's place in the center of the field.

She drew symbols on her arms, hands and on the ground using a black powder, she then placed her hands palms away from herself in front of her and a blue rectangular box appeared. She then started chanting while moving her hands, "Black and white net. Twenty-two bridges, sixty-six crowns and belts. Footprints, distant thunder, sharp peak, engulfing land, hidden in the night, sea of clouds, blue line. Form a circle and fly though the heavens." As she moved her hands and chanted various blue root-like extensions appeared in the air connecting with the glowing rectangle. She then placed her hands again on the rectangle.

She then spoke and everyone there could hear her as if she was standing next to them. "The purpose of this spell is communication only those connected to the spell can hear what the caster or those near the caster are saying. This is a very useful spell since you are not actually hearing with your ears but with your mind." She commented before breaking the spell.

She stood up and asked, "now do you consider those two spell to be very useful when used together?"

The watchers nodded in agreement, many could see the advantages of it. Kushina nodded decisively before she turned to the shinigami pair and said, "well, it looks like it's moving target practice time for the two of you."

The pair nodded and Rukia said, "get ready to dodge."

Kushina glanced up at the watchers before announcing, "I'll explain the spells after the demonstration."

With that she prepared herself to dodge, the first spell was cast by Rukia and everyone could hear her scream, "Byakurai." Rukia had pointed both index fingers at Kushina and a lightning bolt appeared flying toward her.

Kushina dodged the attack and appeared to Shuhei's right, he spun on his heel and cast, "Shakkaho!" A large crimson orb appeared in Shuhei's right palm before blasting out at Kushina in a flaming arrow.

Kushina used a combination of Shunpo and gymnastics to dodge the attack, Rukia had appeared behind her chanting, "Ye lord! Mask of flesh and bone, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! Truth and temperance, upon this sinless wall of dreams unleash but slightly the wrath of your claws. Hado number thirty-three: Sokatsui!" She had aimed her left palm at Kushina before a ball of blue energy appeared there and she fired it at Kushina who barely dodged it. Rukia had been only three feet behind her when she had fired the spell.

Rukia had moved to a different area before she started chanting again, "sprinkled on the bones of the beast! Sharp tower, red crystal, steel ring. Move and become the wind, stop and become the calm. The sound of warring spears fills the empty castle! Hado number sixty-three: Raikoho!" She had jumped into the air just before firing the spell, a yellow energy appeared in her palm and then struck out at Kushina like a bolt of lightning.

Kushina dodged out of the way at the last minute to avoid it, just as she dodged they all heard Shuhei chanting, "Ye lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! On the wall of blue flame, inscribe a twin lotus. In the abyss of conflagration, wait at the far heavens. Hado number seventy-three: Soren Sokatsui!" He had placed his index and middle fingers together before pointing them at Kushina and firing two ball of blue energy.

Kushina leapt into the air to dodge this attack and landed on top of the slab that Shuhei had been pinned to twice. She wasn't even out of breath, while Rukia and Shuhei were breathing just a bit harder then needed. "Good job, I barely dodged some of those attacks." Kushina complimented, she then beamed at Shuhei, "I know that if Kensei was here he would be very pleased with his lieutenant." She then turned to Rukia and asked sardonically, "you learned number sixty-three from Kaien didn't you?"

Rukia nodded and blushed, "he said that I was like a little sister so he taught it to me." As she spoke she poked her forefingers together.

Kushina nodded with a chuckle, "figures. He was fond of your sister as well so that helped too."

Rukia nodded, "so Ichigo told me. Kaien never let on that he knew my sister that well."

Kushina leapt down from the top of the slab and leaned against it, "he wouldn't of. From what I've heard from Kaien's reincarnation, he didn't want to upset Byakuya by talking about her so soon after he lost her."

Rukia nodded before she said, "you better explain about those spells."

Kushina snorted, "I'm fairly sure that those spells are self explanatory." She then looked up at the watcher and asked, "do you need me to explain what those spells do?"

As one the watchers chorused, "NO!"

Kushina nodded in satisfaction, "good. Rukia, Shuhei you can take your seats I have a few announcements to make." With that both shinigami nodded and leapt up into the stands, Rukia sat down next to Ron while Shuhei sat next to Hermione.

Kushina cracked her neck and with a few muttered words the slab of stone turned into a chair. "Alright then, you've all just seen a demonstration of what I'll be teaching. Sign up sheets for the class will be in many different areas of the castle. Only you can sign for yourself as there are spell on the sheets to keep you from lying about your identity anyway. Only you will be able to see your name, merely place your wand at the crest at the bottom of the sheet and state your name. The sheet will then record your name and the crest will disappear for you. The rules of the class will be posted, if you skip reading them and still sign up anyway you will still be bound by the rules."

Some of the students grumbled but nodded in understanding, some of the spells were too destructive to not have rules for the class. Kushina waited until the grumbling died down and then said, "that is all, you are dismissed until October second."

With that she exited the Room of Requirement, she walked to the Gryffindor common room and entered her rooms to wait for Rukia, Ron, Hermione and Shuhei. She had told Shuhei that she would send him back immediately if he wished, Rukia had asked to stay for a while to visit Ron. Hermione wanted to borrow a couple of books to read, she was interested in seals even if she didn't perform them she wanted to read about them. Kushina had joked, "you're acting like Kisuke the first time I told him about them."

Hermione had pouted at that but ignored the jab at her in order to borrow the books, after she had been waiting for twenty minutes the door swung open to reveal the four standing there. Kushina looked up from the letter she was writing to Ichigo and said, "what are you waiting for? Get in here." She then put the flourishing touches on the letter she then read it over:

Dear Ichigo,

I hope you are well, and that your pregnancy is not bothering you too much. I know that Byakuya is annoying you with his over-protectiveness however you must remember that he just now knows who you used to be and now you are pregnant of course he is protective. But that is not what you want to hear is it…

How is Kenpachi? I was rather amused that he is actually courting Hermione, I mean the rough and tumble Demon from Zaraki actually courting a woman. Who would have ever thought that'd happen.

So is Byakuya planning to make an honest man out of you or is he still terrified of my threat? Tell Kisuke not to get too caught up in experiments to eat and tell Hiyori not to hurt Shinji too much. And tell Kensei if he doesn't get off his ass and make Shuhei his I'm going to march into the Seireitei and make him!

Love you always,

Your dearest cousin, Kushina

P.S. And don't forget! 'Don't get mad, play pranks!'

'_Yes, that looks good,'_ she thought to herself. She heard a few snickers from her zanpakuto about her comment on pranking instead of getting mad. _**'What are you two laughing about?'**_ She asked with amusement in her mental tone.

'_**Nothing!'**_ the pair chorused. She snorted but let it go, she then turned to Shuhei, "so you ready to go back?" She asked curiously while folding the letter and sealing it with wax.

Shuhei nodded, "yeah, I need to check on my squad. As well as my paperwork," he commented absently, while running his fingers through his short dark hair.

Kushina giggled before she asked, "can you give this letter to Ichigo?"

Shuhei took the letter from her and said, "sure. Anything else?"

Kushina shook her head then took out Thanatos and swiped him through the air to open a doorway to the Seireitei. She had Thanatos open it right at the Ninth division so he wouldn't have that far to go in order to find his captain and subordinates.

After he left Kushina leaned back into her chair, "Ron, why don't you take Rukia to Hogsmeade. I'll even let you use the cloak…" Kushina said in a singsong tone while glancing over at him to gauge his reaction to her offer.

Ron perked up in eagerness before he nodded and said, "sure!" He then vaulted over the back of the couch and after he talked to Rukia quietly she agreed to go with him. She had been rather curious about Hogsmeade since Ichigo told her about it.

The two of them left Kushina's rooms five minutes later, however before they left Kushina had slipped some money into Ron's pocket. She had finally beaten it into his head last year that she considered herself to be his big sister and that meant giving him pocket money once and a while was perfectly acceptable. So although he rolled his eyes he didn't make a fuss over it.

Hermione waited until they left before she started giggling, Kushina rolled her eyes at Hermione before she asked, "you wanted to see my scrolls on sealing, right?"

Hermione perked up and said eagerly, "yes!"

Kushina gestured her to follow her and went into her bedroom, she then reached under her bed and pulled out a long wooden chest with a spiral carved on it, the box appeared to not have any seams nor anyway to open it. Hermione watched curiously as Kushina brought her thumb up to her mouth and bit it, drawing blood she then ran her bloody thumb over the spiral on the top of the box. The box flashed with a white light and when the light disappeared there was a line all the way around the box. Kushina lifted the top off of it and inside were several scrolls along with notebooks nestled side by side with bright orange books.

Hermione was rather curious about the orange books since Kushina had been reading on during the last weekend and giggling while she read it. They were in Japanese so Hermione couldn't read them, she picked on up and leafed through it before she asked while holding it up, "Kushina, what are these about?"

To her surprise Kushina blushed slightly and fidgeted before she took the worn book back and said, "they're sort of like Harlequin novels…only dirtier."

Hermione raised her eyebrows in shock, "really?" Kushina nodded and blushed, Hermione shook her head and asked, "why do you read them then?"

Kushina laughed as she caressed the spines of the worn novels, "in my past life, my husband's teacher wrote these. I was the first recipient of them, I had two copies of each novel he wrote one that I read and kept on me the other that I had stashed in hiding places all around Konoha. I had Dobby retrieve these from my hiding places, he couldn't find my other novels."

"Oh, so they have sentimental value to them," Hermione commented wryly. Kushina nodded while looking down at the orange bound novels fondly.

Kushina snorted before taking out several scrolls and notebooks before she closed the chest and once the top met the bottom of the box it flashed white. When Hermione could see the box again there was no longer a seam to show where it opened at. She shook her head and commented with a smirk, "you have got to teach me how to do that. It'd come in handy to hide my school books from relatives visiting during the summer."

Kushina smiled at her wickedly, "I'm going to be teaching you that anyway. You use seals to do that." She pointed at what Hermione thought was decrotave carvings and said, "see those? Those are seals, those are used to seal the box shut and the carving on the top of the box is merely decorative but on the inside of the top under the carving is a seal that causes the box to open."

Hermione gaped in shock, "really? What else can seals do?" She asked curiously while following her out into the living area of Kushina's rooms.

Kushina laughed, "a lot. You can seal items in scrolls, like books, weapons, sealing materials but not seals, you can make seals to summon animals but those are usually tattooed on the person. You can put security seals on buildings, actually Hogwart's wards aren't actually wards, they're seals, Godric Gryffindor was the younger brother of the head of the Uzumaki clan. The Uzumaki clan are renowned for their seal masters, however I was the last Uzumaki to be a master Seal crafter." She said the last sentence sadly.

Hermione frowned, "what do you mean you were the last? Surely you had relatives." She questioned worriedly.

Kushina shook her head as she set the scrolls on the coffee table and sat down on the floor. "No, the village that our clan resided in was destroyed and many of our family was killed when they refused to hand over the secrets of our clan. The others slowly died during the second great Shinobi war, by the time the war was over I was one of the few still alive. The others never studied the Sealing techniques so I was the last Seal master of the clan, I had taught Minato several of our family seals, he modified one to seal the Kyuubi inside of our son. I was to weak to have it resealed in me without dying, unfortunately I died anyway from a blow I'd taken while I was distracting it from what Minato was doing."

Hermione gasped at the fact that Kushina's home village had been destroyed. Kushina gave her a wan smile and said, "no matter. There are still a few families out there with Uzumaki blood, if we can find them the better off they'll be." She cleared her throat and wiped at her eyes before she said, "well, enough of that. Let's get to work." She pulled out one of the notebooks and handed it to Hermione, "read this. It's the beginning work that seal masters put apprentices to work on."

Hermione nodded and opened the book to begin reading it when she noticed that Kushina was opening a newer book and was writing in it. "What are you working on?" she asked while beginning to read the book.

Kushina commented absently while making adjustments to what was in the book, "I'm creating a seal that will allow me to keep tabs on Naruto's health. It'll also be able to summon my Cheetahs to his side," she was marking certain points in the book before she opened a different one to glance through it seemingly in search of something.

Hermione stared at Kushina, "your cheetahs? What do you mean by that?" She asked in stunned shock.

Kushina looked up and said, "there are scrolls that once signed by someone allow the person to summon animals. The summoner usually has to prove themselves to the head animal of the scroll though before they all will answer the summoner without protesting. I had two scrolls that I signed, one was the cheetah scroll, I used the cheetahs mainly for messengers and my other scroll for fighting."

Hermione shook of her shock and asked while reading, "what was the other animal you could summon?"

Kushina absently said, "snakes. Manda was more fond of me than Orochimaru so he told me that anyone of my blood could summon him if needed." She marked another page in the other book with a bookmark before closing it, "it also helps that I was born to the line that he and his family swore to always follow in this life."

Hermione looked up and asked, "what? What do you mean by that?"

Kushina looked up at her and said, "Salazar Slytherin was the one to hatch Manda's great-grandfather and find him a mate. Manda's great-grandfather swore that his family would always follow Salazar's line and would always obey him. I'm directly descended of Salazar, thus him obeying me anyway, Voldemort is descended of a child borne via line theft thus not truly considered part of the Slytherin line."

After that the pair worked in silence for two hours, until Ron and Rukia came back. Rukia was giggling and bouncing while holding a plushy rabbit. Ron was watching her fondly, Kushina looked up at the pair and asked, "you ready to head back Rukia? Or do you want to stay for a while more?"

Rukia looked up and said, "I'll head back now. I have to go to Karakura town in the morning, the Head-Captain wants to keep an eye on the town since Ichigo is currently unable to hunt hollows." She rolled her eyes and muttered about how just being pregnant did not make someone an invalid.

Ron wisely kept his mouth shut since he knew his mom never stopped her daily activities even while pregnant with the twins. Instead he wrapped his arms around Rukia and gave her a kiss on the cheek before he said, "I'll see you later then."

She laughed before she nodded and said, "alright. Hopefully the war with Aizen won't go on much longer."

Kushina snorted and said sardonically, "if he makes Ichigo angry while he's pregnant you won't have to worry about it going on too long. Ichigo will march right into his inner sanctum and drag him kicking and screaming before the King."

Rukia nodded, "true, very true. He would do something like that wouldn't he?"

Kushina nodded before opening a Senkaimon for her just outside of her division. "See you later Rukia. Say hi to Ichigo for me!" Rukia waved goodbye before she walked through the doors to the Seireitei.

Ron dropped into one of the wingback chairs by the fire and watched as the girls went back to what they had been doing. Hermione started to read the notebook again while Kushina had pulled out a roll of parchment and was drawing something on it. Ron looked at it and tried to figure out what she was drawing but couldn't so he just asked, "what are you doing Kushina?"

She answered absently, "making a seal for Naruto. I'm going to visit him tomorrow so I want to give him a seal to keep an eye on him while I'm not there that will also allow him to summon one of my animal summons. The cheetah's are already fond of him, they've been keeping an eye on him since my death actually. I was rather surprised to find that out, they've been taking turns watching him, so I know they won't have any problem with him summoning them for something."

With that she finished the seal and before she pronounced it finished she double checked the lines and writing on it to make sure it was perfect. Finally she sighed and said, "there it's finished. Now all I'll have to do is draw it on him and activate the seal." She placed the sheet of parchment on the table to let the ink dry.

Kushina then stood up and stretched before she picked the sheet back up and walked into her bedroom to put it on the desk in there to keep it safe. She then challenged Ron to a game of shogi and while the pair were playing Hermione was reading. Kushina had taught Ron how to play shogi during the summer and he had gotten good at it but unlike chess Kushina won on occasion.

By the time the trio got ready to go to bed Ron had won twice and Kushina once, they had tied on the last game.


	21. Chapter 20: Secrets, Summons & Ghosts

Chapter Twenty: Secrets, Summons and Ghosts

The next morning Kushina had Winky and the other house elves place the sign up sheets all over the castle, she even had them place them in the hidden passageways. Which they thought was odd but did as she bade, all of the sheets were linked to a single book, the book was organized by year and house. That way she could keep track of how many students she would have in her classes, as well as so she would know their names. As she watched she saw the lines for fourth years only gain five names. Two Gryffindor's, one Hufflepuff, one Ravenclaw and one Slytherin. The fifth year page had the most names on it, she was surprised to find Malfoy's name on it though.

She shook her head and kept looking at the pages, on the sixth year page was six people, two Gryffindors, three Ravenclaws, and one Hufflepuff. The seventh years was also short it only had one Ravenclaw, three Slytherin's (she wasn't too surprised that those three had signed up,) and five Gryffindors. Most of her year had signed up for the class, all of the Gryffindors had as had most of the Slytherins, most of the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws as well.

She set the book aside and thought to herself, _'well the classes for the fourth and sixth years are smaller than I'd expected but its doable. If I can I'll see about combining the sixth year class with the seventh, and the fourth with the fifth year class.'_ She leaned back in her chair and ran the idea through her mind, eventually she leaned forward and made a note to herself.

If at all possible combine the fourth and fifth year classes together and see if they can be taught at the same time. If it works then move on to the sixth and Seventh years and see if they can work together as well if not then just fuse the fourth and fifth year classes.

She stood up and stretched to get the kinks out of her spine then she changed out of her night clothes into a tee-shirt and black jeans. Her shirt had the slogan of 'I hate nothing...just dislike with a passion of a thousand suns.' She thought the twins would get a kick out of the shirts she had given the house elves to give to them this morning.

She walked out of her rooms humming a tune to herself, a few of the muggle born or muggle raised recognized the song and goggled at her for humming it since it was a rather old tune from America. Although if Kushina knew what they were thinking would have told them that she didn't think 'Walking after midnight by Patsy Cline' was that old. It had been her Aunt Masaki's favorite song since she had met Isshin while walking home after midnight.

However since she couldn't read minds she walked out of the common room still humming the song. It may have been a sad one but it was still a favorite of hers, a few of the students she passed stared at her, they had never seen Kushina humming, ever. The portraits gave her a few glances since they had never heard a song that sounding like the one she was humming but they quickly turned back to their conversations.

She walked down the stairs to the sixth floor and stopped by the bronze eagle doorknocker it asked, "What always runs but never walks, often murmurs but never talks, has a bed but never sleeps, has a mouth but never eats?"

Kushina answered, "a river."

The doorknocker answered, "correct." With that the door swung open and Kushina entered the Ravenclaw common room. She walked up the steps to the female dorms and into the dorm room marked fourth years. She stood in the middle of the room and frowned, before murmuring, "point me Luna Lovegood." Her wand which she held in the palm of her hand spun before it pointed at a bed near one of the three windows.

She walked over and opened the curtain to the bed to find Luna sound asleep in her bed with her arms wrapped around her pillow. She smiled down at the younger girl before she reached down and shook her shoulder while she whispered, "Luna, it's time to get up." Luna mutter before rolling away from Kushina, Kushina laughed at what she muttered but then said, "Luna wake up. I need to do your hair and I can't do that if you're sleeping."

Luna woke up and looked up at the red haired girl before she said while pouting, "but I was having a good dream about a big fox." She blinked blearily then said, "or he could have been a wolf, but he was so cute. He was worried I wouldn't like him anymore after he showed me what he looked like."

Kushina blinked down at the younger girl before she asked jokingly, "are you a seer or something Luna?"

She hummed before stretching and said, "no, at least I don't think so. Though mommy was always able to see things others couldn't."

Kushina snorted before she handed Luna the shirt and pants she had brought the younger girl, "here where these today." With that she stepped out from behind the curtains surrounding Luna's bed and waited for Luna to get dressed.

Luna stepped out from behind the curtains, when she did she looked down at her shirt and she commented, "I like this shirt. It seems very appropriate somehow."

Kushina smirked as she did she read the message on the shirt, '**Be insane... because well behaved girls never made history,' **she then heard her zanpakuto comment. '_**Very appropriate choice, my Lady.**_' Thanatos snickered as Anubis made the remark but sent his agreement to the statement.

Kushina gestured for Luna to sit on the chair in front of her and started to brush Luna's hair to get the tangles out of it. While she brushed Luna's hair she started murmuring the words to a song, Luna listened to it and hummed a bit to the words. Kushina laughed but continued to sing the song in a low tone.

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At the same time Kushina was fixing Luna's hair the twins had discovered that all of their clothes were missing except for the shirts and pants lying across the foot of their beds. Fred held up his shirt while George held up his and Fred commented, "well at least the color is the same and the saying on the shirt is the same."

George nodded but with a mock pout said, "still whoever gave us these shirts just doesn't know us at all." He then looked down at the shirt and read the writing aloud, "**Chaos, panic, disorder...my work is done here.**"

Fred smirked before he retorted, "I don't know about that. I rather like the shirt."

"I never said I didn't like it, I love it in fact, but still to have it so blatantly advertised to the world." George sighed in mock sorrow before he smirked at his twin and put the shirt on. They then bounded down the stairs to go plan a prank with Lee, as it was either plan the prank or tease Lee about his crush. And the last time they teased their friend he threatened death and dismemberment if they did it again.

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Sirius padded along on silent feet panting slightly so the students who were out and about wouldn't be too frightened of him. As he walked he remembered how his day started and a vague grin slipped across his dog forms face. To the students he just appeared happy but inside his mind he was remembering the wakeup call he had given his husband. Even if that meant he had gotten up an hour early he knew he could take a nap later to make up for it. As he was considering going to visit James and Remus he came across the Weasley twins planning a prank with their friend Lee Jordan.

Neither the twins nor Lee saw either him or a certain lovesick Slytherin watching them, Sirius snickered mentally and thought to himself, _'what is it with Slytherins and spying on those they love…'_ as he thought that he heard a retort from Nejibana, _**'now, now. My dear, you did the same thing with Severus."**_ She chided him, Sirius rolled his eyes but agreed, he had spied on Severus when they were in school.

Sirius padded over to the watching Slytherin and butted him in the thigh with his head. The Slytherin started and looked down at the huge black dog who was giving him a look that seemed to say, 'what do you think you are doing?'

He held up his hand and without thinking began to defend his spying, "I can explain… wait a minute you're a dog why should I explain myself to you?"

Sirius sat down and stared at him, he finally caved, "I like him, he's a great commentator and he's funny, can take a joke, of course with the Weasley twins as his friends he'd have to be… Still, he wouldn't want anything to do with me, I'm a Slytherin, a boy and three years younger to boot." While he was talking he had begun to pet Sirius, after he finished talking Sirius whined in commensuration.

He ruffled Sirius fur before he got up from his seat and said, "thanks for listening, Snuffles. Although I have to wonder when did Professor Snape get a dog…" as he said that he walked off to his common room.

Sirius shook himself while thinking to himself, _'maybe I should mention this little crush to Kushina… From what Ichigo told me she enjoys a good matchmaking opportunity.'_

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Later that night Kushina called Dobby to come get her and take her to just outside the walls of Konoha. She wanted to test the defenses of the village, she was slightly disgusted to find gaping holes in the defenses and while she was checking she noticed several ANBU members going where they weren't supposed to be. She frowned and made mental notes on their masks, before she slipped into the village and made her way to Naruto's apartment.

She dropped down onto the window ledge at his living room and upon seeing Naruto sitting at the desk in there tapped on the window. Naruto looked up and his face lit up upon seeing the Dragon mask. He hurried over to the window and opened it up before he stood aside and let her slip in. As she slid past him she ruffled his blond locks and said, "hello little one. Sorry I haven't been by lately but I've been on a mission."

Naruto looked up at her before he gave her a hug and muttered into her stomach, "that's okay. I was just worried, when I didn't see you for a while." She smiled down at him sadly though he couldn't see it through the mask.

"Maybe I can ease your mind little one." She said thoughtfully.

Naruto looked up at her with a puzzled look on his face and asked curiously, "how would you be able to do that?"

She laughed as she walked through the doorway to the kitchen, "simple, when I went on a mission I ended up freeing a peculiar creature by the name of Dobby. By doing that I ended up with his loyalty and friendship. I think that looking after you would be a perfect job for him, he's been getting a little bored since I'm not home to often and he likes looking after someone."

Naruto blinked in shock, before he asked hesitantly, "look after me?" He watched as she nodded and started pulling out ingredients to make a stir-fry.

She commented, "yes, look after you. You're not a Genin yet, ergo you are still a child by the laws of Konoha." She looked over her shoulder as she said that and stared at him, he had been about to object but went silent at her look. Her gaze seemed to be saying, 'stop protesting and let me mother you.'

"I'm going to be out of the village for a while on a mission, the mission required someone of ANBU skill but isn't a known Jounin so I was picked. It'll take a while for me to complete it, I'm having to hunt someone down who is very good at losing his trackers so I have to go slow enough that he doesn't know I'm closing in on him." She explained while preparing the ingredients to go into the pan, she cut one and a half pounds of chicken into one by two inch pieces. She then took one pound of shiitake mushrooms, she removed the stems and cut the mushrooms into large chunks.

She then took a few carrots and sliced them into two inch thick strips, she then took two cloves of garlic and minced them finely. She pulled out a jar of minced ginger and pulled out one tablespoon of it. She took three spring onions, washed them then cut off the green tops and sliced the white parts very thinly. She set aside the green parts for later, she pulled out four cups of rice and put it in a pot of boiling water.

After it cooked she set it aside for later, she then mixed one tablespoon of cornstarch with two tablespoons of water and set that aside as well. She then started to mix the sauce for the stir-fry, she mixed one teaspoon of sesame oil, she then added the two cloves of garlic and the minced ginger. After that she added the spring onions and three tablespoons of soy sauce as well as three fourths cup of water, she then mixed it, after the ingredients were incorporated she set it aside for later.

She took out the only wok Naruto owned and after putting it over medium heat she added the cashews. She toasted them for about a minute until they were lightly toasted, she then put them in a bowl for later. After removing the cashews she added two tablespoons of peanut oil to the wok and added the chicken, she stirred it until the chicken was lightly browned and no hint of pink remained. She then removed the chicken from the pan and set it on a plate.

After that she put the mushrooms, carrots and one can of water chestnuts into the pan and cooked them for about three minutes. She then added the chicken, cashews and stir-fry sauce to the pan, she then stirred it. After she stirred it she put the pan over the wok and let the mixture cook for another three minutes. After the three minutes were up she poured the cornstarch and water mixture into the pan, stirring it to thicken. She then removed the pan from the heat and after dishing out the rice onto two plates, she poured the stir-fry over the rice and served one plate to Naruto.

As she cooked she had continued to explain, "I've asked my summons if they wouldn't mind keeping an eye on you for me so I won't worry too much about you. They've agreed to do so, but I'm going to have to put a seal on your arm so they can come when you call them."

He stared at her with wide blue eyes and asked, "call them?"

She nodded and said, "yeah, you'll be able to summon them but you won't be a contracted summoner, if you call them and the person you're fighting has a contract with them then they'll obey the contracted one before you. But you won't need to worry, I'm their only contracted summoner," she assured him while looking at him over her left shoulder as she added the chicken to the pan.

"Oh," he said quietly as he tried to wrap his brain around having a summons.

As she set the plate in front of him a few minutes later she said seriously, "however do not summon them unless you truly need them. I used a similar seal on my husband so he could summon them as well, he mainly uses them for messages not for fighting." She added before she slid her mask up slightly to allow her to eat her plate of food.

He bit his lip and after a few seconds began eating himself, they polished off their plates in fifteen minutes, Naruto was still slightly hungry so she fixed him a second plate of it. While he was eating she started to was the dishes she used to make the meal, after that she dried them and put them back into the cupboards. After Naruto was finished eating his second plate, he was finally full so she put the rest of the stir-fry into a bowl and put it in the fridge.

She then ushered him out into the living room and then called out, "Dobby, come here please." To Naruto's shock a strange looking creature appeared and bowed deeply before Ryuu while smiled adoringly up at her.

She smiled down at it and said, "thank you for coming promptly. Dobby I'd like you to meet Naruto. Naruto meet Dobby, he's a bit hyperactive but I think you'll get along very well once you get to know one another." She winked at the pair when she said that before she gestured for Dobby to sit down.

He took a seat and said, "Mistress Ryuu, what do you need of Dobby?"

Naruto blinked at the way he said that, but turned to Ryuu when she said, "I want you to look after Naruto while I'm gone on my mission. Since my husband also has a mission for the same length of time as I, you won't have anyone to look after for a while." She smiled fondly down at Naruto, he couldn't see it of course since she had pulled her mask back down after she had finished eating.

"Oh, Dobby understands Mistress, does Mistress wish Dobby to bind himself to Little Master?" Dobby asked while bouncing excitedly on the seat.

Ryuu chuckled then nodded, "yes, Dobby. You may bind yourself to Naruto." She then turned to Naruto to explain, "what binding means is that Dobby will be able to tell what you need. If you're injured due to practicing with weapons, he'll have the first aid kit ready for you. If you're starting to get hungry he'll know and make you a meal, and other such things. Dobby also has a bond to myself and to my husband." Naruto had tensed at the first mention of a bond but relaxed after Ryuu had explained what the bond did.

Ryuu cocked her head to the left and asked, "are you alright with Dobby bonding with you?"

Once Naruto nodded Dobby hopped down from his seat and said, "put your hand on the top of my head Little Master." Naruto tentatively did as Dobby bade.

Ryuu took over then, "now I want you to repeat after me, okay?" Once again she waited until Naruto nodded to begin. "I, your name and home village, do hereby accept Dobby the house elf as my servant."

Naruto boggled at the wording but did as she bade and said, "I, Naruto Uzumaki of Konoha, do hereby accept Dobby the house elf as my servant."

With that a flash of light surrounded Naruto and Dobby and when it had receded Dobby had a grin on his face and was bouncing slightly. Ryuu looked at him and said, "Dobby why don't you go to my house and clean it."

Dobby nodded quickly before he said, "right away Mistress!" He popped away and Naruto was swaying side to side in a daze.

She places her left hand on his right shoulder and stooped down to look him in the eye, "are you alright, Little one?" She asked softly.

"Yeah, just a little dazed." He replied absently, she chuckled before leading him over to the couch.

"I know, I was a bit dazed myself after accepting Dobby's services." She said while she cradled him in her lap and ran her fingers through his hair soothingly. His eyes drooped to where only a sliver of his eyes could be seen and he started to make a soft sound with every pass of her hand. She listened carefully and under her mask her smile widened, her son was making a purring sound with every exhale of his breath.

Naruto listened to her heartbeat and let it sooth him along with the way she was combing her fingers through his hair. Unconsciously he started to make a purring sound with every exhale of his breath, the last time he had done that was when he had gotten sick and Itachi had taken care of him.

Kushina kept up her petting of Naruto's hair for an hour before she said, "I should put that seal on you. I have to get going soon, my mission is supposed to begin in three hours." Naruto looked up at her and pouted, she tapped him on the nose before she said, "I don't really want to leave little one. But I am the only one qualified for the job."

Reluctantly she got up and set him down where she had been sitting. As he watched she pulled out a scroll and opened it up. About halfway through the scroll she pricked her finger on a kunai and smeared the blood on one of the words. With a puff of smoke a wooden chest appeared on the ground, the chest had the Kanji for Dragon on the top. She then pricked her thumb and ran it along the four sides of the box. A white light surrounded the box and when the light had cleared he saw that there was a top and a bottom to the box now.

He watched as she lifted the top of the box and set it aside, inside the box was several jars of ink and brushes. She ran her right index finger over the brushes before selecting a medium sized one. She then picked up one of the jars of reddish toned ink, before she turned to him and said, "take off your shirt and turn to where your right shoulder is facing me."

He blinked but shrugged and obeyed her command, "okay."

Once he had his right shoulder facing her, she opened the jar of ink and dipped the brush into it. Before she lifted it to begin drawing the seal, she warned him, "this will be cold and it will tickle. I will need you to stay perfectly still since I'm going to be drawing this one handed as I need to use several hand signs for this particular seal to work."

Naruto nodded his understanding and braced himself for the coldness of the ink as well as the tickling sensation of the brush. He watched her draw the seal on his upper right arm, although he couldn't see the design of the seal, he also watched as her left hand flew through one handed hand seals, the whole time she was murmuring the seals as she went through them. Once she finished drawing the seal she started making hand seals with both hands still keeping up her mantra of the particular hand seals she was using. She then stopped her signing and placed on hand below and one hand above the seal drawn on his arm. As she did so she said, "Summoning Seal: Cheetah summon."

A flash of light emanated from the seal drawn on his arm, the light was so bright he had to look away. When he could look down again he was surprised to find that there was no mark on his arm and the ink had vanished. "Where did the seal go? Did it not work?" He asked her anxiously as she was putting the jar of ink back into the box.

She chuckled, "it worked. The seal is not supposed to be visible." As she spoke she went into the kitchen and washed the ink off of the bristles of the brush.

"Oh, then how is the seal supposed to work?" He questioned while following her into the kitchen.

She placed the brush back into the chest and closed it, the chest sealed itself once more. Once the chest had sealed she placed it onto the scroll where she summon it out of and with a flourish sealed it back into the scroll. She replied to his question absently, "the reason I had to do the seal while you were awake was so you'd know where the seal is. All you have to do to use the seal is to swipe some of your blood across the seal and feed a bit of chakra into the seal. You don't need to say any words or do any hand seals to use the summoning seal like you would if you had a contract."

Naruto blinked in shock, "so, I can summon a cheetah without anyone knowing I summoned it?" He asked dazedly.

She nodded, "yep, that's what my husband does anyway. That's why for him they make perfect messengers, he can summon them silently, give them a written message and tell them who to take it to. The enemy never even realized he summoned them, until reinforcements arrive at the location." Her golden eyes twinkled from behind her mask as she remembered the shock on the Iwa-nin's faces when she and a group of Jounin's showed up to the Hokage's rescue. Not that he really needed rescuing but still it was hilarious to see the looks on the face of the enemy nin that were still conscious when they showed up.

Naruto's eyes gleamed in mischief when he heard her comment absently, "be careful though, my cheetah's like a good prank now and then." It took all of his self control not to rub his hands together and cackle manically.

Instead he pasted an innocent look on his face and asked, "can I try to summon one now?" He gave her a pleading look with large soulful blue eyes and a pout.

She chuckled both at his pleading look and his previous false innocent look. "Go ahead. I've already warned the larger cheetahs that I was giving you the seal tonight so they won't answer any summons. If you put too much chakra into the summon then you can summon the larger cheetah's." She then stood back after lending him a kunai to prick his finger with, she watched as he smeared his blood across his upper arm and sent chakra into the seal.

With a faint pop and a burst of smoke a cheetah appeared in front of them, it was a medium sized cheetah and when it found itself in the apartment it gave a giggle before giving Naruto a small bow. "Hello, my name is Etsuyo. How can I help you?"

The cheetah heard a laugh that sounded almost like bells and looked behind her to see Kushina standing there laughing at her, the cheetah pouted and said, "Mistress Ryuu! There is no need to laugh at me!"

Kushina giggled before putting a look of mock admonishment on her face and said, "my deepest apologies, my dearest Etsuyo."

The cheetah sniffed haughtily however she ruined her haughtiness when she said, "it's good to see you again Mistress Ryuu. You've only been summoning Mikali lately so the rest of us haven't seen you." The cheetah then butted her head against Kushina's thigh, silently demanding that Kushina pet her.

Kushina laughed before she began to pet the young female, "well unlike yourself Mikali knows how to remain unseen and quiet. You on the other hand prefer to be yourself, which just happens to be loud and visible." She ruffled the cheetahs fur along her neck and scratched her behind her ears then along her jaw line.

Etsuyo purred in contentment as her summoner scratched behind her ears and along her jaw, though she did glare up at Kushina at the remark of being loud and not at all stealthy. She could too be stealthy she just didn't see the point in bothering with it when she was as fast as she was. After Kushina petted her for several minutes, Etsuyo turned to Naruto and said, "if you don't need me for anything I'll head back home, Little summoner."

Naruto said dazedly, "go ahead then." The cheetah nodded goodbye to both humans before she disappeared with a pop and a cloud of smoke.

Kushina laughed and turned to her son who was still in a daze before she said, "well that was Etsuyo. She's one of the best messengers you could get, she maybe loud but she's fast, she's never been caught while delivering a message to anyone. And even if she had been caught she's crafty enough to find a way to escape."

Naruto blinked at that bit of information before he asked, "so if I need a message delivered quickly I should use her?"

Kushina nodded and remarked before she got up after putting her scroll back into her kunai pouch, "I better get going. If you need to check on me or my safety just send Dobby. He'll be able to find me and check up on me, I'll see about speaking to my other contracted summons about whether or not they'd agree to have me put a summon seal for them on you as well."

Naruto gaped at the ANBU operative, "but I thought having two summons was impossible!"

She laughed, "not impossible just highly unlikely. My cheetahs are used for messages and my second summon I use for fights. Although I do use my cheetahs when I'm hunting someone or tracking a kidnapped person. My family is old friends with the boss of my second summons so he's always happy to come when I call, I think there are two other who've signed his contract but I'm the only one that has signed the master scroll."

Naruto cocked his head to the left, "master scroll?" He asked confused.

Kushina looked down at the small blond boy, "yes, a long time ago the boss of that particular animal summon swore to always follow the family who hatched his egg and brought him a mate in order to have their many children. Because of that promise he decided that only that family would sign the master scroll, after the first person to sign the master scroll married he extended that offer to the relatives of the mate of his summoner. Out of the two only one took the opportunity…" She trailed off of her explanation before she clapped her hands together, "still, no need to wonder. I'll talk to the boss of my second summon on behalf of you becoming a summoner of the scroll."

"Oh, okay. What are your second summons anyway?" Naruto asked curiously while he tilted his head to the right.

She ruffled his hair and said, "serpents. I am a contracted summoner of the snake summoning contract."

Naruto opened his mouth to speak when suddenly he yawned, Kushina laughed and said, "I think it's a certain little ones bed time."

Naruto pouted but allowed her to herd him to his bedroom and made him get dressed while she put away the scroll he'd been reading before she came over to his apartment. After he finished getting ready for bed she came into his room and tucked him into bed before she stood and said, "good night little one, I should be able to come back in about three to four months. I'll see you then, I even promise to bring you a present back with me." She said from the door way as she looked back at him.

He turned onto his left side to watch her, "good night, Ryuu-Okaasan."

Kushina froze in shock and she turned around to stare at him before she asked in a whisper, "Ryuu-Okaasan?"

Naruto looked up at her with his hands over his mouth in shock, he hadn't meant to let that slip out. Kushina strode over to him and knelt by his bedside, "did you mean that Naruto? Do you really think of me as your mother?"

Naruto bit his lower lip but nodded before he blurted out, "I'm sorry, I know you don't think of me like that but…"

Kushina put her hand over his mouth to stop his rambling, "no, little one. Don't apologize. I most certainly do look upon you as my son, and if my husband could meet you he'd say the same." With that said she leaned over and after pulling up her mask enough gave him a kiss on the forehead and said, "good night and sleep tight. My little one." She tucked him back into bed and walked out the door.

Naruto blinked a bit in shock but decided to go to sleep, inside the seal on his stomach a certain nine tailed fox was grinning with glee. It muttered, _**now that is classic of my dearest former host.**_ The fox chuckled before it turned its thoughts to its newest host, _**you are far too much like your mother. I've grown fond of you without you even trying to make me like you.**_ The fox then snorted and laid its head on its front paws as it went to sleep.

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Two hours later and Kushina still wasn't in bed asleep instead she was in the Room of Requirement practicing with her zanpakuto. She was working on obtaining Anubis' Bankai, she had already obtained Thanatos' though truth be told she had one of the easiest trials that was required to obtain Bankai, every zanpakuto was different. Ichigo had to prove he knew his zanpakuto from any other sword, Kenpachi had long ago gained Sekmet's admiration and respect.

Anubis required her to be able to summon his army without his aid, while Thanatos had just wanted her to prove herself in a fight against him. She had already managed to defeat Thanatos but she hadn't been able to figure out how to summon even one member of Anubis' army much less an entire legion of them. She knew that she had the power to summon them without his aid but she just couldn't figure it out, about twenty minutes to midnight she decided enough was enough.

She held up the blade that was Anubis' physical form unless she manifested him, and snarled at it, "Fine I give! How do you summon them?"

Anubis chuckled but appeared by his mistress' side, "I thought you'd never ask my lady." With that he gripped her hand on the hilt of the sword and maneuvered himself so he was standing behind her. He then guided her hand to move the sword tip in a circle around her on the ground, as he drew the circle he said, "arise my warrior. Kneel before your master!"

With a puff of sand and a howl of wind a Jackal warrior stood in front of her. Kushina's eyes widened in shock, the warrior tilted his head to look at Anubis who grinned down at his shocked lady. "It's that simple? You made it to where summoning your army was that simple!" she stated in shock.

Anubis chuckled before he nodded and dismissed the warrior back to the sands by him saying, "return from whence you came warrior. There is no need to draw thy blade and fight." It bowed before it crumpled into no more than a pile of sand, after it had disappeared he looked down at his mistress and said, "you should go to bed, you have an early day tomorrow."

She snorted and said, "yeah I know." With that she sent Anubis back to her inner world and with a simple flip of it made the sword disappear from sight. She walked along the hallways toward the Gryffindor Common room, finally she ended up in front of the Pink Lady and said, "gillyweed." The portrait swung open and she walked into the room, with a sigh of relief she sat down by the fire and leaned back into the chair.

Eventually though she got up and walked over to Minato and after giving him the password walked inside her room. As she stood in the middle of her bedroom she frowned, to take a bath or not… _Decisions, decisions, _she thought to herself, _Hades, I'll take a bath in the morning_.

She stripped herself of her clothes and tiredly put on her usual nightshirt then crawled into bed.

Kushina opened her eyes and wondered what the heck was going on, _'wait a minute! I just went to bed! What in the hell am I doing in Konoha?'_ She sat up and blinked rapidly as if that would change the view around her, she was sitting on her favorite perch, the first Hokage's head that was carved into the mountain overlooking the village. She looked down at her hands, and blinked again in shock, she was young! If she had to guess she'd say that she was either thirteen or fourteen, she only said that because she didn't have the scar she had gained when she was fifteen.

"Hey Kushina, have you been up here all day?" She heard a voice she hadn't heard in years call from behind her.

She looked over her shoulder to see Mikoto heading toward her, she smiled at her old friend deciding to go with the flow. "Hey, there Mikoto, yeah, I've been up here all day. Why do you ask?" She asked her friend with faux innocence.

The black haired woman smirked down at her red-haired friend, "maybe because the ANBU changing rooms were put under a genjutsu so strong the men went into the women's room and the women into the men's." She said sardonically.

Kushina snickered before pasting an innocent look on her face, "I have no idea who could have done such a thing. I certainly couldn't have after all I'm terrible with Genjutsu's."

Mikoto snickered before she suggested in an innocent tone, "perhaps they had a partner." With that the two girls looked at each other and collapsed into giggles. No one would suspect Mikoto since she was an Uchiha and was not known for her sense of humor, on the other no one would suspect Kushina since she was extremely terrible with Genjutsu's to the point she had to cause herself pain to get out of one.

As Kushina opened her eyes her lips curved into a bittersweet smile, she missed Mikoto, she even missed the way Fukaku would shake his head when the two stumbled into his and Mikoto's house after pulling off a prank. She wondered how they were, if they were still alive, how their youngest son was doing, and more importantly just how her godson was doing. He'd be about seventeen by now, how time flies when you're not expecting it to…

She stretched and reached over to her dream diary and wrote down, '_I dreamt I was in a village named Konoha and had played a prank on an elite guard service named the ANBU with the help of a friend named Mikoto.'_ She put the diary down then got up out of bed and headed toward the bathroom. Once inside she knelt by the huge tub and turned several knobs, putting her favorite fragrances into the bath.

While the tub was filling she heard her communication mirror going off, she frowned and thought to herself, _'who's calling me this early in the morning?'_ She walked out into her living room and pressed the accept button. She was bemused to see her fiancé who was gaping at her before he blurted out, "isn't that my shirt?"

She looked down at the shirt she was wearing and said, "why yes it is! So why are you up so early in the morning Kisuke?"

He blinked before he asked, "it's morning?"

She stared at him and said as if talking to a very slow child, "yes, Kisuke, it's morning. What time did you think it was?"

Kisuke held up a finger as if to ask, 'hold on for a moment,' he then walked out of view then a few moments later came back. His brow was furrowed and he said, "but it's nearly four o'clock here."

Kushina face palmed and said, "Kisuke, Japan runs about nine hours ahead of where I'm at, so its around seven in the morning to me."

Kisuke blink before he said, "oh, sorry."

She waved her hand dismissively and asked, "so what did you call about?"

She watched as he perked up and said, "oh, I just needed to tell you that you have your first volunteers for the Shinigami Arts Class."

She raised her eyebrows and asked, "so who are they?"

Kisuke snapped open his fan and said from behind it, "Orihime and Tetsuzaemon Iba have volunteered to come for the second week of lessons, Rukia said she'd be willing to come and help give demonstrations but she has to stay in Karakura Town since Ichigo is currently unavailable. Hachi has also volunteered his time, same with Lisa and Mashiro," Kisuke added absently.

Kushina leaned back against the desk, she nodded and said, "alright I'll work that into my schedule. I was planning to start everyone off on meditation anyway, just to give them a good foundation, and to see if any of them are close to finding their inner world."

Kisuke nodded, "good idea, my dearest muse."

She smiled at him then said, "I better go, I have a bath waiting for me."

Kisuke leered at her and said, "think happy thoughts of me." She rolled her eyes but nodded before she tapped the end call button.

As she walked to the bathroom she shook her head at his antics, "that man will never change." She laughed quietly before she muttered, "perverted shopkeeper."

She went into the bathroom and after undressing got into the bath, she did a few laps around the tub before she leaned against the side to soak. After thirty minutes of soaking she washed her hair then removed the hair from her legs and under her arms with her usual potions. After she was finished she got out of the tub and dried off, she walked into her bedroom while drying her hair.

She then opened her closet and removed her uniform to wear today. As she did so she muttered, "it's going to be a long week."


	22. Chapter 21: Lessons of Life & Quidditch

Chapter Twenty-One: Lessons of Life and Quidditch

Kushina cracked her spine as she walked down the hallway with Kenpachi, she had been right this last week had been long. Everyone had come up to her and asked her when she had learned to do things like that, how long did it take, and other such annoying questions. She merely retorted, "sign up for the class and you'll find out." They usually shut up after that but none signed up like she suggested. She merely smirked and labeled it a win for her, Kenpachi had laughed at a few of the idiots who questioned him about it.

She had been glad to have the weekend come even if it meant the next week would begin the first lessons of Shinigami Arts Class, she had just been glad to have Kenpachi to spar with. Hermione was entertaining Yachiru while the twins had been pranking people left and right. On occasion the twins themselves had a prank pulled on them but they had yet to figure it out. At first they had suspected Kushina since she had pulled managed to get all four houses to cooperate and prank Lockhart during her second year. But she gave them an oath that she wasn't the one pulling the pranks on them, she merely forgot to mention that she knew who was. After all you don't cross a marauder nor their child, she snickered as she thought about how the twins idolized the marauders yet couldn't realize that three of the four were in the school with them.

Kenpachi followed Kushina back to the Gryffindor Common room where they found Yachiru lying on the ground near the fire place on her stomach and coloring in a book. Hermione was in the chair next to her reading a book for her Ancient Runes class, Hermione looked up when the door swung open upon seeing who it was she smiled up at the pair. "Hello you two," she said while closing her book before she put it away.

Kushina smiled at her friend, "hello to you too, Hermione."

Hermione laughed, "did the two of you have fun playing?" She asked teasingly while giving Kenpachi a heated glance.

Kushina smirked and retorted, "I certainly did. Now I think I'm going to kidnap a certain pink haired child and watch over her while her Ka-Chan and Ken-Chan go on a date." With that Kushina scooped up the giggling girl and darted out of the common room. Hermione gaped after her best friend who had called over her shoulder, "don't do anything I wouldn't do. Of course that does leave you a lot of things to do," Kushina had winked before the door had closed after her.

Hermione glanced over at Kenpachi who had a pink tinge across his cheek and across the bridge of his nose. She smiled playfully at him and said, "now whatever shall the two of us get up too?"

At that question Winky popped into the common room and said, "Mistresses' Hermy and Hermy's Kenny, I was being told to give this to you." With that Winky handed Hermione a picnic basket that had a note on top of it.

Hermione opened the note and read it,

Hermione,

I'll baby sit Yachiru for you and Kenpachi, he likes the outdoors so I had the thought that a picnic would be a perfect date for the pair of you. I fully expect you to return the favor when I have kids.

Your friend,

Kushina Potter-Lupin

Hermione smiled down at the paper and said, "well, Kushina volunteered to baby-sit Yachiru for a few hours with the provision that we return the favor when she has kids." Kenpachi stared at her in shock as she grabbed his left hand with her right and dragged him out of the common room while holding the picnic basket in her left hand. The other students in the common room gaped after her and Kenpachi they didn't know what had gotten into the Raven of Gryffindor but they liked it. Seamus chuckled before he went back to the Exploding Snap game he had been playing with Dean.

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Kushina watched as Hermione was lying in front of the fireplace in her living area of her rooms, she listened only half of her attention to what Hermione was rambling on about. Last time she checked in her friend was babbling about how Kenpachi had decided to teach her a few simple techniques to survive in the wilderness without her wand. Hermione had fallen silent a few minutes ago and was staring dreamily into space, Kushina leaned forward and asked, "so, are you glad I took Yachiru for today?"

Hermione rolled over onto her back and looked up at Kushina, whose golden eyes were dancing in merriment. She sighed with contentment, "mmm, indeed I am.".

At that Ron burst into the room and slid into a stop in-between the girls, Kushina looked at him with an eyebrow raised. He smiled and said excitedly, "Angelina said she's posting the results from the tryouts and wants all of the current players in the common room." Kushina snorted but got up from her seat and helped Hermione up to her feet as well. Then the three exited her rooms and gathered around Angelina Johnson who was standing by the bulletin board.

Angelina clapped her hands to get the students attention, "alright everyone who tried out for Quidditch positions, thank you for doing so. However some did not make the cut, I'll read out the positions and who is filling them. I'll read off the main or team that will be playing most of the time, then I'll tell you who made the reserve team. Reserves don't worry you'll have your chances to play this year, I'll set up against Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw but the Slytherins belong to the main team. GOT IT?" She glared at the students gathered around her as if to say, 'agree with me or else.'

The students nodded rapidly in agreement, even the ones that hadn't tried out for a position on the teams. Angelina glanced around to see if any objected before she cheerfully said, "Katie hand me the scroll will you." Katie handed the scroll with the list of names on it to the Quidditch Captain.

Angelina cleared her throat before she said, "for the position of Captain and Chaser is myself, the other two Chasers are Katie Bell and Alicia Spinnet. For our Beaters we have the Weasley Twins, of course for our seeker we have Kushina Potter-Lupin as always. I selected Ronald Weasley for Keeper, he flew the best out of the three who tried out. And that is the main team." She said before she looked up, Ron was gaping in shock at her, he couldn't help but think to himself, '_I made the team!'_

Fred and George clapped their little brother on the back before they said, "congratulations, Ronny!"

Angelina gave her Beaters a glare and they quieted down, she cleared her throat and said, "here is the line up of the reserves, since our keeper and seeker are both Fifth years we've declined having a reserve for those two positions. However two of our other players did tryout for those two positions so they will double as reserves for them." At that some of the waiting students murmured but silenced after a baleful glare from Angelina.

She huffed to herself and continued, "our three reserve chasers are Ginny Weasley, Collin and Dennis Creevey. The three showed remarkable ability to cooperate and will need hardly any coaching on working as a team. Our reserve beaters will be Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas. I've recommended to Professor McGonagall that the Captain of the team next year look at the second and first years for an entire team of reserves that way when the current reserve team graduate they don't have to replace the entire team." With that Angelina closed the scroll and glanced around, "any questions?" When all she got was head shakes she nodded and left the common room.

Kushina clapped Ron on the back and said, "congratulations Ron. I knew you'd make it, after all you've been the keeper of your families games at home." With that she walked off to congratulate Ginny and the Creevey brothers for making the reserve team.

Hermione smiled at Ron's disbelieving expression and said, "come on Ron, lets go congratulate Ginny." She dragged the stunned boy over to Kushina and Ginny to give her their congratulations for making the team.

All the sudden the chattering students heard a bang from by the fireplace and looked over to see what made the noise, Fred and George was standing on the coffee table, Fred had his wand raised so more than likely it was him who made the bang. George cleared his throat before casting the Sonorous charm on himself, "may I have your attention. My twin and I do believe that news of this importance deserves a party! So what say our Student Head of House?"

At that the twins moved the attention off of themselves to Kushina who merely laughed before she said, "alright but not too late now. We do have classes in the morning!" She chidingly reminded them. At her agreement the students gave a cheer, after they had received her okay the twins snuck out of the common room and down to the kitchens, where the house elves piled their arms with food.

The party lasted from seven o'clock that night to midnight, the only reason it ended was because Kushina stuck her head out of her room and said with a remarkable resemblance to her godfather, "it's bed time. Go to bed," with that she gave them a glare that said, 'if you don't get in bed within the next ten minutes you'll wish you had.'

Those still awake gulped, they had seen what she did to those who didn't follow her orders besides even the Weasley twins followed her orders when she got that kind of a look on her face. Within five minutes of her giving them the order, the common room was devoid of students and Kushina went back into her rooms to finish her lesson plan for the next day.

Once she finished jotting down the final thoughts she stretched and went into her bedroom to go to sleep. However before she went to sleep she bit her left thumb and swiped it across the small seal on the crook of her right elbow to activate it. She closed her eyes and allowed the information to come to her mind, once it was finished she sorted through it. She opened her eyes with a sigh of relief, Naruto was fine, and it appears more mischievous than she ever was, he had painted the Hokage monument with water based paint.

She laughed about the prank and thought to herself, '_oh, Naruto. You take far to much after me for the villages comfort.'_ As she thought that she slipped into dreams of her past pranks, both in Konoha and in Hogwarts. Minato and Fukaku had ended up bonding over their wives love of pranks and mischief, the pair had often came in their houses with grins on their faces and the men would merely groan before they said, "don't tell us about it. That way when asked we can plead ignorance."

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Both the regular and reserve Gryffindor Quidditch teams trudged in the hall, except for Angelina who was bouncing in giddiness completely unperturbed by the glares from her teams. The other houses looked at the group oddly and Hermione looked up as her best friends plopped down and piled food on their plates before devouring it ravenously. "Hungry are you?" she asked while looking at them bemusedly.

Ron nodded and swallowed his mouthful before he said, "Angelina worked us to the bone. If every practice is like that then prepare for all of us to be very hungry when we're done." He added before beginning to eat more, Kushina nodded in agreement before starting in on her egg and bacon sandwiches.

After Kushina finished her sandwiches and washed them down with Pumpkin Juice, she said, "Ron's right, both of the teams will be starving by the time practice is done with the way Angelina worked us today. Thankfully Angelina's agreed to keep the morning practices to a minimum, except for the weekends. So all of our future practices will be held after our final class and dinner."

Ron took over then, "she was going to make us practice for three hours until Kushina pointed out that her class would be held during those times and thus no one could be practicing that late." He smirked at her before beginning to eat a chocolate chip muffin, Hermione shook her head over the pairs different eating habits. Kushina may be eating quickly but she was being neat about it, Ron was a little more messy but thankfully a summer with Kushina had stopped most of that.

Once the pair had finally finished with their breakfast and had dressed in their uniforms while grabbing their book bags the trio went to their classes.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

During the break between their first class and Potions, Hermione looked up at Ron and Kushina upon seeing their faces she asked, "was Divination that bad?"

Ron groaned before he nodded and Kushina commented scathingly, "apparently I'm dreaming of my reincarnation before I'm dead." At that she rolled her eyes, "honestly, I wonder what she would say if I told her that I was dreaming of my past life not my future." As she said that she led her friends down into the dungeons to wait for Potions to begin, Kushina leaned against the wall opposite the door to the potions lab.

Hermione commented quietly, "she wouldn't believe you anyway." Kushina nodded reluctantly in agreement.

Ron commented, "oh well at least we won't have to see her for another week." While he was talking he pulled out a small book, Kushina had gotten him addicted to a muggle series called the Cat Who series by Lillian Jackson Braun. He was currently reading 'The Cat Who Went Underground,' from his attentiveness both Hermione and Kushina assumed that he liked it so far.

Kushina had a plan in the works for his birthday, she had asked her father if there was a spell that could combine books and that would also allow other books to be added later. Remus replied startled by the question that yes, there was a spell to combine books and all you had to do to add books to it was to place the bound books on top of the new book or books and cast the spell again. Kushina told him that she planned to buy the books that had already been released of the Cat Who series and combine them into one book for Ron's birthday.

The Slytherins arrived slowly, they didn't harass the Gryffindors since after the first three lessons they had learned that Professor Lily wouldn't dote on them nor would she take the Gryffindor's side. Although some of the Slytherins were trying to figure out how she knew who started the fights, but they respectfully didn't pick any fights besides most of the Slytherins didn't feel like fighting anyway. Potions had become extremely interesting since she had taken over teaching it.

Five minutes before class was to start Ron put away his book and picked up his book bag then leaned against the wall next to Kushina who was trying to solve a crossword.

Hermione on the other hand was going over her homework from her Ancient Runes class, Ron rolled his eyes over her enthusiasm for the subject, the worst part was the fact that she made him and Kushina study the Runes with her. As he had muttered once to Kushina, "at least if I ever get barmy and take the damn Owl for it I'll pass." She had merely chuckled and nodded in agreement.

At that moment Lily opened the door and said, "hello everyone. Come in."

As the Gryffindor's passed her they all murmured good mornings to her, some of the Slytherins did the same. As the students settled in their seats Lily walked to the front of the class and said, "alright, today you'll be learning how to make Draught of Peace. It has relatively few ingredients, you'll need Syrup of Hellebore, Powdered Moonstone and Daisy Roots. You may use the student ingredient cupboard if you don't have them on hand."

Usually they worked with partners but today they would be working alone. During the first class Professor Lily had paired Hermione with Neville while Ron was paired with Seamus. Dean was paired with Kushina while Lavender was paired with Parvati. On the other side of the room, Blaise was paired with Theodore Nott while Tracy was paired with Daphne. Bulstrode was paired with Parkinson while Crabbe and Goyle were paired with each other, Draco due to his boasting was working alone.

Kushina got out the three ingredients as well as getting the water needed for the potion. As she did so Lily said, "although it doesn't require that many ingredients it is complicated to make. If this potion is improperly made then the person taking it can fall into a deep sleep, never to awaken again."

Many of the students gulp at the look on her face, "it will probably be in the Owl for potions so do pay attention." She said while giving the class a stern look she then commented, "you may begin when ready."

Kushina had put her cauldron on the fire before getting the water for the potion, after allowing it to preheat for thirty minutes she added three cups of water to the cauldron. While the cauldron had been preheating she had chopped the daisy roots, after adding the water she slid the daisy roots into the cauldron. She then stirred the potion two times clockwise then five times counter-clockwise. She then added two ounces of powdered moonstone, after which she stirred the concoctions three times counter-clockwise then let it simmer for seven minutes.

Once the seven minutes had passed she added two drops of the Syrup of Hellebore, she let it simmer for two more minutes. At which point it began to emit a silvery vapor, once it was giving off the vapor Kushina moved the cauldron off the fire and allowed it to cool. Kushina sighed in relief once she had finished the potion, she had been crossing her fingers that she didn't mess up the potion. Around her she heard sighs of relief from other students who were also seeing a silvery vapor above their cauldrons. Across the room Crabbe and Goyle's cauldrons weren't emitting the proper vapor instead they were emitting a purplish vapor.

Lily was standing over the boys with an eyebrow raised and her left foot tapping in annoyance. She vanished the contents of both cauldrons after taking a vial of each one, and said, "just how in the world did you manage to get them to emit purple smoke?"

The boys grunted incomprehensibly. Lily narrowed her emerald eyes at them before growling, "I want a five foot essay on the proper handling of ingredients as well as the proper way to answer your Professor."

She then strode up to her desk and set the two vials on it then turned to the class, "everyone put your potions into the flagons that I placed on them earlier. Mark them with your name and leave them on your work stations. You're dismissed once you've finished that task." With that she sat down at her desk and began to straighten it up for the next class.

Once Kushina and the others had put their potions into the flagons they left the classroom, as they walked to the Great Hall Kushina muttered, "how in the world did Crabbe and Goyle pass the last four years in potions?"

Hermione shrugged as she guided Ron, who had his nose stuck in his book, toward the great hall. Kushina heard her mutter, "this is quite the turnaround. Ever since you introduced him to that book series he hasn't been able to put it down. Normally I'm the one with my nose in a book not Ron!"

The Gryffindors near the trio snicker, Daphne Greengrass, Tracy Davis and Blaise Zabini were close enough to hear Hermione muttering. Kushina retorted, "so what if Ron has his nose in a book, you've taken to watching me and Kenpachi spar."

Hermione blushed bright red before looking everywhere except at Kushina, surprisingly Hermione blushed even brighter when Kushina stated offhand, "plus you do like watching Kenpachi go through his katas." Kushina then leered slightly at Hermione, "then again I can't blame you for that, he does have a very nice chest."

The boys around them blushed a bit before giving Hermione a look, the look on Neville's face said what he was thinking but he had to voice it anyway. "Kushina… I thought you were engaged?"

Kushina looked over her shoulder and said, "I am. Why do you ask?"

Seamus said sardonically, "perhaps it's because you are talking about a man who isn't your fiancé?"

Kushina laughed and said, "just be cause I notice the window dressing doesn't mean I want to decorate with that set of drapes."

The other Gryffindors looked confused so Hermione clarified, "what Kushina means is that although she likes the look she's not attracted to it but like some people are with decorations she likes to admire the scenery."

Lavender and Parvati both blinked before they said, "oh. I get it, she likes to look but that doesn't mean she wants to touch!"

Kushina nodded, "exactly. Kenpachi is a very fine example of a man, not that my beloved isn't. Both, in my opinion at least, fall into the category of scoundrel's, rogues and ner-do-well cads. In other words good girls like bad boys." Kushina commented with a smirk, before she stated with a leer, "and my fiancé can be considered a very bad boy."

Hermione blushed at the comment of the good girls like bad boys before she added, "true and Kenpachi is all but stereotypical of a pirate." The two girls looked at each other before giggling.

Ron took his nose out of the book before he said, "could the two of you please discuss your men elsewhere, I'm trying to read." After he said that he started reading again, while they had been discussing the merits of Kenpachi's muscles the group had made their way to the Great hall. Ron had sat down far away from his best friends because he did not want to hear what they thought of the two men.

Kushina and Hermione shrugged before they sat down and began talking about the men of Soul Society. The two girls were given a wide berth by the males of the house since they were now rating the men while the girls hung on the two's every word. After lunch they headed to their next classes, the ever boring Binns and the exciting Professor Lupin.

During Dinner Kushina had Headmaster Dumbledore announce that the fourth years who signed up for the extra class to meet at the Room of Requirement at nine o'clock. Fifth years were to be there at the same time tomorrow, Sixth years on Wednesday and Seventh on Thursday.

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As the students gathered outside of the Room of Requirement, Kushina came striding up, "hello everyone." The fourth years nodded at her in greeting and Kushina paced back and forth in front of the tapestry.

After the door appeared she ushered the five students inside, once all of them were in the room she sat them down and said, "alright. We won't jump straight into casting any spells since you don't have a firm foundation. When casting Kido it's different than casting with a wand. A wand gives you a focal point while Kido needs you to focus where you want it to generate at or from." As she lectured them she paced back and forth, "what I will have you do is meditate in order to find your magical center. Once you find that and only once have experience in pulling the magic to the surface will I teach you how to cast a kido." She stared at them with a serious expression on her face before she asked, "understand?" The five students nodded, she smiled at them and said, "alright then lets begin!"

Kushina had all five do stretching exercises, when asked why she wanted them to do that, she said, "Stretching loosens the muscles and tendons allowing you to sit (or lie) more comfortably. Additionally, stretching starts the process of 'going inward' and brings added attention to the body." After she said that the ones who questioned her got understanding looks on their faces.

After they were done stretching she had them find a comfortable position in the room, Ginny was lying on her back with a cushion underneath her head and knees. While Colin on the other hand was reclining against a cushion. Astoria was sitting with her legs crossed over each other and leaning against a cushion. Luna on the other hand was lying on her stomach with a cushion underneath her upper body. Kevin Witby from Hufflepuff was sprawled out on the floor with only a cushion under his head.

"Is everyone comfortable?" Kushina asked while walking around and in-between them. After they all made noises of agreement she smiled, "alright then. I want you to close your eyes," she waited until they had followed her orders before asking again, "still comfortable?"

Once again she waited until she had affirmatives from everyone before continuing, "alright then. I want you to focus on your breathing, take a deep breath in, then hold it until the count of five. One, two, three, four, five." As she counted down she walked in between them all checking to make sure they were still fine. She wasn't going to summon her zanpakuto until the second lesson for everyone.

After five minutes of this she said, "alright everyone is doing fine. Now imagine yourself in a place that brings you peace and comfort. Take your time in finding this place, it's going to be your sanctuary. Once you've found that place I want you to take a good look around and memorize that place. After you've memorized it I want you to search through it, you should be able to locate your magical center fairly quickly."

###############################

Ginny blinked as she opened her eyes, she was staring over a vast plain with odd animals grazing. She didn't know what they were called and muttered to herself, "note to self ask Kushina what the heck those things are." She then looked over her shoulder and saw a mountain with a city carved into it, she heard a piercing cry from overhead and looked up. She saw a brilliantly colored Serpent with Feathered wings. As she watched it flew toward the city and after shrugging she followed it having nothing better to do. Besides maybe once she found it she could ask the bloody thing its name. She somehow had the feeling it could talk and that it would know where her magical center was.

#################################

Luna opened her eyes and wasn't surprised at where she was, she found herself on a mountainside above a valley. She smiled to herself and journeyed down into the valley, as she climbed down she felt something or someone watching. She wasn't afraid instead she was comforted by the presence and decided to give the watcher something to chase, herself.

She ran and it followed finally the pair collapsed in a meadow in the valley, Luna curled up next to the large wolf and ruffled it's fur. She murmured, "hello my Fenrir."

The wolf panted beside her and licked her right cheek, she giggled in response and the wolf replied, "hello my dearest Moon."

As they lied there they spoke quietly until Luna asked, "can you show me where my magical center is?"

The large wolf looked up at her and nodded, "but of course my moon. Get on my back and I'll take you there." He commanded quietly.

She climbed onto his back and held onto the ruff at the base of his neck as he raced through the valley, he ended up beside a large spring that fed down into a largish lake. He spoke, "here it is my dearest Moon."

As she knelt by the spring she said, "thank you, my Fenrir." The wolf nodded and laid down under the shade of a tree, he settled in to watch as his moon undressed and walked into the lake to bathe.

#################################

Astoria opened her eyes to find herself underwater, since she wasn't having trouble breathing she shrugged and decided to explore her surroundings. As she moved through the water she felt as if someone was watching her, although the feeling made her slightly uneasy she didn't feel threatened by the presence. So she calmly ignored it for now, and continued to explore, eventually she came across an underwater volcano and by the way it felt she knew that it was her magical center.

As she skirted the lava flow she felt the presence near her and since there was nothing for it to hide behind she spun around and gasped in shock. For she was now face to face with a large blue toned dragon with long whiskers on either side of its snout it's golden eyes widened and it backed up quickly. It hid on the other side of the volcano and Astoria was surprised to see it peeking around the solidified lava. It looked a great deal like a puppy that had just been scolded. She couldn't help but smile at the way it looked, it perked up at her smile and swam forward toward her but it halted about three feet away from her. She reached out and ran her hand along the top of its head and without thinking said, "well hello there. What's your name?"

It purred at the petting it received from her and answered, "my name is Leviathan."

She scratched it under its chin, "hello Leviathan. Can I ask what were doing following me around?" She asked while raising her eyebrow at the water dragon.

The dragon sunk down to the bottom and looked slightly embarrassed, "my duty. It's my job to guard this area." He murmured quietly.

She blinked in shock but said in a dazed voice, "oh, so I guess that makes you the guardian of my inner world huh?" The dragon nodded sheepishly, and the pair sat and talked for a while until Astoria heard a murmur from the outside world.

Leviathan looked up and said, "well you better get going, apparently it's almost time for the class to be over." At that Astoria closed her eyes and focused on the outside world, and when she opened them again she was back in the Room of Requirement.

#########################################

Kushina smiled down at all of them and said, "well done everyone. You've managed to successfully reach your inner world and thus find your magical center. At least I trust that you actually found it." She said with a raised eyebrow and waited until all of them gave her an affirmative. She grinned and said, "alright then. I'll see you all on Friday, since the Fourth and Fifth years will be having Friday this week. Next week will be for the Sixth and Seventh years. On Saturday I expect to see you here at ten in the morning, got it?"

The five students nodded in agreement before getting up from their seats, they paused on the way to the door when Kushina said, "keep meditating every day at least once. Preferably right before bed and right after you wake up, it'll help clear your mind and help sort what you did through out the day." She clapped her hands together and said, "dismissed until Friday!"

They left the Room of Requirement, Ginny and Colin headed toward Gryffindor Tower while Luna was walked down to her Common room by Kushina. She had Astoria and Kevin wait until Luna was safely in her dorm before she walked them down to their respective house common rooms. Once her three students were safely dropped off she walked back upstairs to the Gryffindor common room to find her Gryffindor Fourth year students being harassed.

She cleared her throat and said in an annoyed tone, "those of you who signed up for my class can wait until it is your turn. Those that didn't sign up, sign up if you want to know badly enough to harass younger house members." The ones doing the harassing not in good nature gulped quickly and raced up to their dorm rooms while Fred and George who had only been teasing the pair stayed where they were. As Kushina walked past the twins she smacked them both upside the head and said, "go to bed you two. We have classes in the morning and I have the Fifth years tomorrow night." With that she walked into her rooms and after changing into her night clothes dropped into bed.

The next day passed by like a blur and finally it was the fifth years turn with Kushina, thankfully none of them questioned why she was having them meditate but merely obeyed her orders. When Ron opened his eyes in his inner world he was startled to find himself standing by a wide river that had Crocodiles on both sides of the banks as well as in the water.

There was a temple on the same side of the river that he was standing on, the path to the temple was lined with statues of Crocodiles and on either side of the temple entrance was a statue of a man with the head of a Crocodile. He shrugged and walked toward the temple, the crocodiles merely gaped their mouths open and paid him no mind as he walked past them.

Just inside the temple entrance there was a large pool that had Crocodiles lying beside and in it being hand fed choice cuts of meat by priests. As he entered the inner sanctum he heard a voice behind him that said, "so you've finally come to visit, Mine."

He turned around to find a enormous crocodile lazing behind him but for some reason he holds no fear of it. He cocked his head to the side and asked curiously, "how come I'm not afraid of you?"

After he asked that the Crocodile hissed out a laugh and asked, "and why should you fear me, Mine? For I am yours and you are Mine."

Ron's eyes narrowed in thought before he pointed a finger at the large crocodile and stated more than asked, "you're the guardian of my inner world aren't you."

At that the Crocodile transformed into a man with a Crocodiles head and said, "yes, Mine. And my name is Sobek."

Ron hummed in thought and said, "I probably don't need to introduce myself to you though." The Crocodile man conceded Ron's point with a mere head tilt.

###########################################

Hermione on the other hand had found herself standing at the foot of a temple that wouldn't be out of place in the middle of the desert, however it was in the middle of a tangled jungle. She turned away from the jungle and walked into the temple, as she walked down the corridors she glanced into one of the large rooms to find a library. She couldn't resist walking into it as she did so she heard as a voice called out, "I was wondering when you would finally come pay me a visit, my Dearest."

As she spun around she came face to face with a large white baboon, it gave her a smile before transforming into a man with an Ibis head. Hermione due to her being a rather curious child had studied Egyptian Mythology so she knew exactly who stood in front of her. So she asked with a surety in her voice, "your name is Thoth, isn't it?"

He blinked a bit in shock before he seemed to smile at her while he said, "I always knew you were brilliant but in these you exceed my expectations, Dearest one."

She hummed lightly before stating confidently, "you're the guardian of my inner world." At his nod she stated more than asked, "so that means you can tell me where my magical center is."

He nodded once more and led her to the very heart of the temple before he gestured to the statue in the center of the room and said, "it's right there."

#######################################

Kushina watched as one by one her students became surrounded by a glow indicated that they had found their magical center and was currently accessing it. After several minutes she carefully drew them out of their inner worlds and gave them the same instructions as the Fourth years, she escorted the other houses back to their common rooms then made her way back to her common room.

Much like the day before it passed like a blur to her, except for the afternoon Quidditch practice, all of Gryffindor had an hour and a half break on Wednesdays, which Angelina took advantage of and booked the pitch for an hour long practice. By the time Dinner rolled around both the reserve and regular team was exhausted. Kushina fully planned to take advantage of having her class two hours after Dinner to rest. She told Angelina to bother her at her own peril because unless it was a full scale emergency she wasn't answering her door.

Later that night she met the Sixth years for their first lesson, once she told them that they wouldn't be practicing Kido until they had meditated. Zacharias Smith the only Hufflepuff in the room scoffed and said, "why not? We've been doing magic since eleven I think we can handle it." The rest gave him a look that all but screamed, 'are you a moron? We've never done this type of magic.'

Kushina sighed before explaining again for the third time where he was concerned, "to use a muggle analogy, Smith. 'A house without a solid foundation will quickly crumble.' In other words the magic you've been using since eleven will not help you with kido, you need a good meditation foundation before proceeding to casting."

He huffed and said, "I can do it." Kushina eyes flashed in anger before she smiled at him sweetly which made the two Gryffindors in the room shudder.

When the three Ravenclaws gave them a questioning look, Katie leaned over and explained, "Kushina only ever smiles like that before thoroughly humiliating a person." Their eyes widened with understanding before looking back at the pair that was standing to one side.

Kushina had the room make a target appear and said, "alright then Smith, if you think you can do it go ahead. Use Hado number 31: Shakkaho, the red flame cannon. The incantation is relatively simple, its 'Ye Lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! Inferno and pandemonium, the sea barrier surges, march onto the south!'" at that she stood back and allowed him to attempt the spell. She knew that without access to his magical center nor having ever allowed his magic to flow throughout him, he wouldn't be able to cast it successfully.

As the others watched as Smith attempted the spell and when he finished the incantation and attempted to cast the spell it backfired. Only the quick intervention by Kushina saved him from being badly burned from the backlash of the spell. She stared down at the dazed teenager, she growled out, "now do you see why I said to have a firm foundation in meditation." She gripped him by the shoulder and dragged him to the door and after opening it shoved him out while she said, "don't come back. I refuse to teach someone who will not obey my orders."

She then turned back to everyone and said, "now that the arrogant idiot is out of here, lets begin."

The rest of the lesson passed normally, enough and once everyone began to glow with their magic she dismissed them with the same orders she gave the Fourth and Fifth years. Meditate right before sleep and right after they wake up.

She walked the Ravenclaws back to their houses and then went up to her own room to sleep, she had the Seventh years tomorrow. _Hopefully,_ she thought _they won't be as arrogant as Smith was._

Thankfully the Seventh years weren't arrogant since she had the respect of all three of the Slytherins and the five Gryffindors who showed up obeyed her anyway. The lone Ravenclaw took one look at how the other eight bowed to her command and wisely did the same. They all followed her instructions to the letter and soon all of them were deep in their subconscious, Kushina noticed that the twins seemed deeper than the others. Anubis commented, _**'that is because both have been around you long enough to have developed enough spiritual pressure to actually awakened their guardians. The others will go to their inner worlds but without practicing a long time they will not wake up theirs anytime soon. Your friend Astoria however has met hers.'**_ With that he fell silent while his mistress absorbed the knowledge he dropped on her.

##############################################

Fred opened his eyes to find himself on the edge of a forest, he looked over his shoulder and gaped at the vastness of the dark forest behind him, it seemed even larger than the Forbidden Forest but it wasn't as dark and forbidding. He looked back in front of him to find himself staring a large mountain, he walked around the edge of it, and quickly found himself staring at a large opening. The opening was so large that it could have easily allowed the giant squid to go through it with room for three Hagrid sized people to walk arm in arm on either side of it. He shrugged to himself and walked into the cave, as he followed the corridor he noticed that the walls seemed unnaturally smooth as if they were worked to be that smooth.

After many twists and bends he came across a series of large caverns, in one of the middle ones, he found a dragon the size of the Hungarian Horntail, thankfully without its armaments though, it was the color of highly polished brass. As he approached he didn't feel threatened or even slightly scared of the large beast, in fact he whistled appreciatively at the glow of its scales. It looked up to see him and to his surprise it spoke, "hello my dear Jester."

Fred frowned in mock annoyance before he asked, "Jester? Why did you call me Jester?"

The dragon chuckled before stretching and standing up, "yes I called you my Jester. And why not, you are a prankster aren't you?"

Fred opened his mouth to comment before he closed it and gave the dragon a conceding nod, "touché, dear dragon."

The dragon laughed again before it commented, "come with me. You are looking for your magical center aren't you. If you are than follow me, dearest one." As it walked down the corridor to the right it looked over its shoulder and said, "dear me, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Aasternian and I am the guardian of this place."

Fred hummed in thought as he quietly followed the dragon, he decided to ask Kushina and Yumichika just what the dragon meant by being the guardian of this place.

######################################

George on the other hand found himself standing on a vast savannah with a large mountain to the north, there were no animals in sight so he decided to walk over toward the mountain. As he approached the mountain he saw that there was a large dragon the color of burnished copper sunning itself along a ridge on the mountain side. It raised it's head at his approach and commented, "hello dear one, I was wondering when you would drop by. You are looking for your center I presume."

It was stretching as it said that, from its voice George guessed it was either a female or a very young male. He nodded before he asked quietly, "so what's your name?"

It laughed huskily before crouching near him, "my name is Hlal and you might want to climb on my back. The trip to your center will go much faster if you ride me," George goggled a bit at that command but shrugged and climbed aboard.

He noticed that the space between the last two spikes on its neck was a perfect fit for him, as he settled into his seat he asked, "so… are you a boy or a girl?" As it gave him a look he clarified, "not to be rude or anything I was just wondering."

It snorted before it answered, "I am a female, dear one." With that the dragon gathered itself into a tighter crouch before bounding off and with a mighty thrust of its hind legs launched into the air. George gave whoop and grinned at the feeling of the wind rushing past his face and through his hair. He held tightly on to the spike in front of him as the dragon rode the wind thermals.

###############################################

Kushina noted the grin on Georges face and ten minutes after it appeared a glow surrounded him, Fred had been glowing about five minutes longer than George. She smiled and after the last person started glowing she began waking them up from their meditations. She dismissed them until Saturday and told them that next week they were expected to come in for a lesson on Friday. She let the five Gryffindors go to the common room and walked rest back to their houses for the night. She dropped the lone Ravenclaw off then escorted the Slytherins back to theirs. With a nod goodnight she walked back to her room to go to sleep since she had a full day to look forward to the next two days.


	23. Chapter 22: Boiling Point Reached

Chapter Twenty-Two: Boiling Point Reached

The days passed quickly and before anyone knew, it was halfway through October and Halloween was closing in on them. However in Karakura, Japan things were beginning to reach a boiling point with Ichigo's temper. The stress of being pregnant and having Byakuya hovering over him to make sure that he was perfectly fine was beginning to grate on Ichigo's nerves. Although Fabian and Gideon were trying to lighten the atmosphere it hadn't helped as well as it should have.

Even Shunsui and Jushiro had given Ichigo a wide berth and when Sirius called to check how everyone was doing he merely noted aloud, "huh, you're starting to get very angry aren't you?"

Ichigo had merely nodded at him with a tight expression, and after they chatted for several hours which thankfully got Ichigo's mind off of some of the troubles. However a few days later Ichigo heard news that made him very angry, a Espada kidnapped Orihime when she was traveling back to the living world from the Seireitei. Gin had passed the information to Ichigo along with the information that several Espada were against Aizen but they couldn't revolt or he'd kill them. The moment that Ichigo sent word though they would turn their blades against their fellow Espada and Arrancar.

However it was the lack of action by Central Forty-Six that caused Ichigo to be his angriest and storm off to Hueco Mundo to go get her. He snarled, "if you aren't going to do something about it, than I will!"

With that he had his hollow open a Garganta and stepped through, Byakuya glared at the council members that made up the group and said, "if any harm comes to Ichigo you'll find yourselves out of a job." After that he turned around and barked an order to Renji, "gather the squad, we're going to Hueco Mundo."

By the time the squads got to Hueco Mundo they were able to watch as several Espada turned their blades on their fellows and as Gin Ichimaru was helping Ichigo hold off Aizen. Kaname Tosen was knocked out and tied up off to the side, he was being watched by an Arrancar with shoulder length dark hair and blue-grey eyes. The remains of his hollow mask, which was a fanged lower jaw, rested against his neck as if it were a necklace and his hollow hole was just below the skull jaw.

Beside the lazing man was a young female Arrancar, her outfit caused a lot of shocked gasps from the more conservative of the group. As it consisted of a pair of white-colored briefs with a black line positioned in the middle, arm-warmers that went up to the mid-upper arm and a rather revealing vest that had a high collar. She was also wearing a pair of thigh high fur-lined boots, her hollow mask, or rather what remained of it, was in the form of a helmet with two horns on the top of her head. The left horn looked as if it had been cut off, and the left half of the mask covered her eye. The only eye that could be seen was a light pink, her light green hair was chin length and was arranged messily.

She was leaning against the rubble and scowling down at the man they overheard as she said, "Coyote, you're such a lazy bastard!"

He tilted his head and looked up at her before he commented with a lazy drawl, "it's not like he's going to go anywhere you know. Besides, Grimmjow, Ulquiorra, Tia, and Nel seem to be having fun, so why should I spoil it?" As he asked he smirked up at her, she scowled further before she kicked him in the side and looked away. He snickered before looking up and seeing the gaping shinigami, he asked, "so are you here to pick up this idiot?" With that he jerked his thumb toward the unconscious former captain.

Shunsui tilted up his hat and smiled lazily down at the Arrancar before he said, "well we didn't come to do that but since we're here we can take him off your hands." With a chuckled Shunsui gestured for some of his subordinates to take the traitor back to the Seireitei and put him in one the Reiatsu suppressing cells. He then looked back at the pair of Arrancar and said, "I'm Captain Shunsui Kyoraku. And you two are?"

Lilynette scowled at him, she could tell he was as lazy as her Starrk, but answered, "I'm Lilynette Gingerbuck, this idiots Fraccion." She merely tilted her head toward the reclining man, who was completely ignoring the subordinates of the Shinigami Captain.

Shunsui blinked then commented, "I still don't know his name."

She kicked his side and said, "tell 'em who you are!"

He grumbled and said, "fine if it stops you from kicking me." At that he stood up and gave a small bow to squad eight, "Coyote Starrk, Primera Espada."

Nanao frowned lightly before she questioned, "Primera Espada? What do you mean by that?"

Lilynette looked at Coyote who was staring up at the sky completely ignoring the question. She scowled and answered for him, "it means he's the first Espada or highest ranked."

At that the watchers gaped in shock, Nanao's eyes widened before she asked, "and the others he spoke of. What are their ranks?"

Lilynette looked up at her and said, "Nel or Nelliel Tu Odelshwanck is the former Tres or third ranked Espada. She had lost her memories a while ago but that dark haired female shinigami brought her back. Tia Harribel is the current Tres Espada, while Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez is the Sexta or sixth ranked Espada and Ulquiorra is the Cuatro or Fourth ranked Espada."

Shunsui raised his eyebrows and said slowly, "in other words we have the first, both thirds, the fourth and the sixth ranked Espadas helping Ichigo-Chan."

Lilynette looked at him and said in a bored tone, "if that dark haired shinigami is Ichigo… than yes, you do."

Meanwhile while Shunsui and his squad was finding out information about what was going on the rest of the squads found themselves on the outskirts of the battle between Aizen, Ichigo and Gin. To the surprise of the watchers Gin was helping Ichigo and they overheard Aizen ask, "why are you fighting against me Gin?"

Gin sneered and said, "I've never been on your side. I only joined you to keep an eye on you and for revenge. Your idiots nearly killed Rangiku before I ever met her." With that he lunged and lengthened Shinso, distracting Aizen enough for Ichigo's hollow to manifest. They noticed that the hollow had a glove on his left arm and was holding something in his right hand, he used a form of shunpo to get to Aizen's side and grabbed Kyoka Suigetsu with his left hand.

As he twisted away from Aizen who had turned startled at the quick appearance of the hollow, to both the watching shinigami and Aizen's shock, Kyoka Suigetsu's manifested form was being held by the throat by the hollow. He smirked at Aizen before putting what he was holding in his right hand, which they all realized was a collar, around her neck. As soon as the collar was closed threads of fabric shot down and wrapped around her wrists bringing them behind her back while some other threads shot up to her mouth and covered it to the point she couldn't say anything.

While Aizen was staring at the hollow in shock both Ichigo and Zangetsu lunged at him, Zangetsu put a pair of cuffs on him while Ichigo placed a collar around his throat. His collar also shot strips of fabric that connected to his wrists pinning them behind his back as well. Ichigo stood over him and sneered, "you actually thought that you could become the Shinigami King? You're a fool than, as if the King was so foolish as to hide his key then tell someone where he put it," Ichigo snorted in derision.

Zangetsu commented, "he hid the key alright but he hid it in the place no one would ever look." At Gin's questioning look Zangetsu elaborated, "in plain sight."

At that moment Ichigo's hollow dragged Aizen's Zanpakuto over to them and said, "so shall we take them for judgment?"

Ichigo nodded than turned to Zangetsu and said, "I guess we don't need to hide it anymore." She nodded to her wielder and held onto the chain leading from Aizen's collar while Ichigo went into Bankai. The appearance of Ichigo's outfit had changed since they last saw it, Ichigo's Shihakusho now hung open and was held together only by X-shaped closures. Underneath the Shihakusho was a white undershirt, the ankle-length Shihakusho now ended in many coattails and over all of that was a sleeveless white waist-length Haori. On the back of the Haori was the symbol of the Head of the Kings Guard, when they all glanced at Zangetsu they noticed her outfit now had the same X-Shaped markings as Ichigo's.

Her sword form had changed as well, it was now the same length as her Shikai form, however it was more curved toward the tip, it also had three protrusions along the blunt end of the sword near the tip. The tsuba of the blade retained most of its shape but it had become more curved and jagged. The chain leading from the hilt was longer, and attached to the gloves that Ichigo now sported on her right glove forming a wide loop.

Ichigo stared down at the stunned Aizen and said scathingly, "you wanted to see the King. And so you shall…For judgment!" With that she turned from him and stalked forward stopping only three feet away from the four. Ichigo looked over her shoulder and said, "the King hid his key in the one place he could trust that it would never be stolen from." Ichigo smirked before she said, "he placed it in a single soul."

With that the Gates of Heaven appeared and the lock was at shoulder height, Ichigo lifted Zangetsu's sword form up and slotted it into the keyhole, after it was sunk in to the hilt Ichigo twisted the blade. With an echoing click the gates swung open and Ichigo strode through the gates closely followed by his hollow who was dragging Kyoka Suigetsu and Zangetsu who was cheerfully pulling the chain hanging from Aizen's neck. The five were stopped by some of the Kings Guard and asked, "who goes there?"

Ichigo stepped forward stating, "Ichigo Kurosaki, formerly known as Regulus Black, formerly known as Hisana Kuchiki. I bring Sosuke Aizen for punishment as well as Kyoka Suigetsu."

The guard glanced at the pair holding the prisoners and said, "you do realize that one of the ones holding them is a hollow. Right?"

Ichigo sneered at him and said, "I should hope so, considering he's my hollow." The other guards had shook their heads at the questioning guards denseness.

The guard blushed but said, "you may pass." With that the guards stepped out of the way and allow the five to pass.

As the five walked into the throne room Ichigo kneeled in front of the king while his hollow and Zanpakuto forced Aizen and Kyoka Suigetsu to their knees. The King laughed and said, "I should have known that you would become angry enough to do this, my precious one." Byakuya growled at the endearment that the king used for Ichigo, those near him raised their eyebrows in shock both at the King using the endearment and at Byakuya's reaction to it.

Ichigo smirked up at the King and snarked, "what can I say, I get angry when someone threatens those I care about."

The King laughed then said, "well done. You've completed the mission as assigned," with that the King gestured for someone to take the pair away.

The King noticed that Ichigo seemed a bit nervous and he asked gently, "what is wrong my precious one?"

Ichigo swallowed and after taking a deep breath stared the King in the eye while he asked, "permission to retire from duty, your Majesty?"

The King and most of the guard stare at Ichigo before the King closed his eyes and said, "permission granted, my dearest. I wouldn't take you from your beloved nor your sister and friends."

Ichigo breathed a sigh of relief before giving the King a brilliant smile and said, "thank you."

The King snorted and said wryly, "you've always served me well, and often far beyond what was needed. Despite all that you could ask of me you hardly ever requested anything of me." He gestured for Ichigo to come near him and dragged the startled dark haired teen into his lap, he ruffled Ichigo's hair as he commented, "you always were my favorite grandchild."

Ichigo blinked up at him and asked, "really?" The King merely nodded before gesturing for the rest of the guard to leave, they did so with great reluctance.

The King looked down at Ichigo and said, "let me tell you a secret. One day I'm not going to be King any longer. I've chosen my heir and they will do fine, although their choice of mate is odd I approve of the match." He reached over to a tray beside the throne and picked up a scroll, he handed it to Ichigo and said, "orders for the Head Captain of the Shinigami as well as central Forty-Six."

Ichigo slid out of the Kings lap and bowed to him before turning to leave, before the three could leave, the King called them over and said to Ichigo and Zangetsu, "Ichigo you will no longer be the container of the Key of Heaven, for your own safety. Zangetsu, that means no longer will you be the key to open the Gates of Heaven. I believe that my successor will be the perfect guard of the Key now." Ichigo nodded and left the room with the pair following closely behind him.

When Ichigo walked out of the gates he found Byakuya gaping at him and she defensively asked, "what?"

Renji cleared his throat and said, "uh, we saw it all." He pointed at his captain and said cheerfully, "Captain Kuchiki is just a bit shell-shocked."

Ichigo looked around and saw that the shinigami were watching the six Espada carefully but weren't truly wary of them. Gin was being fussed over by the fourth division while both Kira and Rangiku were glaring at him. When Ichigo looked at Rukia in askance she explained, "they're just a bit upset that he let them believe he turned traitor when he was just spying on Aizen for the King."

Rukia then pointed to the slightly wary shinigami and commented, "and they are just a bit startled that six of Aizen's Arrancar turned against him."

He hummed and asked, "where is the Head Captain?" She pointed over Ichigo's shoulder toward the third divisions squad. Ichigo hugged her and said, "I've got to go talk to him." He glanced at the still stunned Byakuya and said, "when he wakes up let him know where I've gone, will ya?" Rukia nodded while looking amused.

Six days later the judgment of the Six Arrancar who turned against Aizen and of Gin Ichimaru was passed, out of the thirteen captains who voted as well as their lieutenants, all voted that the Arrancar be allowed to live. The Head Captain sighed and said, "very well. However, they will be put on probation in the Human World, I've already chosen their probationary officers."

Byakuya stood solemnly and glanced out of the corner of his eye at his fidgeting lieutenant. He turned his eyes back to the Head Captain when the Head Captain started listing the probationary officers. "Coyote Starrk and his Fraccion Lilynette will be put under Former Captain Isshin Kurosaki's supervision, while Tia Halibel will be placed in the care of Orihime Inoue. Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez will be placed with Uryu Ishida, while Ulquiorra Schiffer will be placed with Lieutenant Abari. Finally Nelliel Tu Odelshwanck will be placed under Jushiro Ukitake's care."

After he let the placements settle into everyone's minds he continued, "all will be placed into special gigai's that will convert all human food eaten into the proper nourishment that a hollow requires. Further more all six will have a Reiatsu inhibitor placed on them, keyed only to their probationary officer. That way the officer can release them if they feel that there is sufficient trust that the hollow won't go on a rampage or begin hunting." He then turned to the group and said, "I want volunteers to guard the Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry."

At that command several Shinigami stepped forward, Kenpachi Zaraki, Yachiru and Yumichika stepped forward for the eleventh division. Isane stepped forward from the fourth while from the eighth stepped Nanao Isa. From the seventh stepped the captain and lieutenant, and from the thirteenth stepped Rukia Kuchiki and Jushiro Ukitake. Finally from the first division stepped forward the lieutenant of the division, the Head Captain wasn't surprised that he volunteered.

When Byakuya went to make a protest about his adopted sister volunteering Ichigo stepped on his foot and said, "don't worry Yuzu and Karin are going to the school next year and Dad's already offered to teach their nurse some healing techniques. She'll be fine," at that last comment of Ichigo's, Byakuya relaxed.

The Head Captain cleared his throat and said, "and so it is decided, the group that volunteered to go will be departing for the human world immediately. A friend of Captain Urahara has volunteered his empty house for you to stay in but be warned he will be coming home for Christmas."

Ichigo stepped forward at that and said, "that would be my cousin Sirius's house. I was planning on going to his Christmas celebration anyway, so I'll see you guys then, okay?"

############### ##################

The first Quidditch match of the season was scheduled to begin eleven days after the judgment of the Arrancar, it was Gryffindor versus Slytherin as usual.

Rumors quickly spread around the school that the new captain of the Slytherin team was outvoted by Severus on the team members. Word also spread that the team now stood with Malfoy as Seeker and Captain while the position of Beaters went to Blaise Zabini and Astoria Greengrass. While the keeper position went to Lillian Moon, Astoria's only room mate. The chaser positions were held by Theodore Nott, Daphne Greengrass and Tracy Davis.

When Kushina heard what happened she had laughed herself sick, when the rest of the teams asked why she managed to gasp out, "because Astoria will keep Malfoy in line. Tracy and Theo will follow Daphne's lead while Blaise will follow Astoria's. Malfoy won't have a team that will follow any plays revolving around fouls."

With that she collapsed into giggles and the teams blink in shock before Angelina asked disbelievingly, "you mean we might have a game against Slytherin that won't involve too many fouls?" Kushina nodded while gasping for breath before continuing with her giggle fit. The other players quickly left her alone and after they left Kushina received a call from Kisuke who asked upon seeing her, "what is so funny?"

After she explained he snickered and Kushina, who managed to calm her laughing fit asked, "so why did you call Kisuke?" He quickly explained about the judgment of the Arrancar who turned against Aizen as well as the assignment given to several Shinigami officers. She snorted at the idea of those involved staying in Grimmauld Place with Kreacher who had most likely given them quite the fright at first.

She then asked him, "do you want to come to the Quidditch match on the fourth?" His face lit up and he nodded enthusiastically, she laughed lowly before she said, "I'll give the others a call and ask if they want to come. Can you ask the Visoreds if they want to come to the match?"

He opened his fan and beamed at her while he waved it around, "but of course, my dearest one."

With that both ended the call and Kushina called Grimmauld Place, Kreacher answered, "hello, Little Mistress!" Ever since that summer he had started calling her Little Mistress, when Sirius asked him why, he told him that although she wasn't Sirius's heir she was still a Black. Eventually they all shrugged it off, it worked out for the best if he considered her one of his masters and thus took her orders so long as they didn't go against the Head of the Black family's orders.

She came back to herself when Kreacher asked, "what can Kreacher be doing for Little Mistress?"

She started lightly before she said, "oh, yes. As I understand we have a few guests in Grimmauld Place right now, I'd like to speak with Jushiro Ukitake please."

Kreacher bowed and said, "right away Little Mistress."

A few minutes later Jushiro appeared at the mirror with a majority of the Shinigami following him. Kenpachi nodded in greeting while Yachiru waved, Yumichika also gave her a smile and a wave. Tetsuzaemon nodded in greeting when he came in the room, his captain glanced at him oddly but also nodded at Kushina. Rukia and Orihime greeted her with a, "hello Kushina-Chan!"

Kushina laughed and said, "hello back, Rukia-Chan, Orihime-Chan!"

Jushiro looked amused at the enthusiasm that his normally quiet subordinate was showing he chuckled quietly before he asked, "so what did you call to talk to me about?"

Kushina turned her attention to the white haired man before she said, "the first Quidditch Match of the season for Hogwarts is scheduled for the Fourth of November. I was wondering if you wished to come watch it, it's Slytherin Verses Gryffindor."

Rukia's face lit up and she said, "I want to go, Ron's been telling me about it. He's on the Gryffindor Team as it's keeper."

Orihime nodded in agreement, "it could be fun. Besides it'll get us out of this house for a bit anyway." She then pointed at the Arrancar and quipped, "and we're supposed to socialize them remember." The shinigami around her nodded in agreement while the Arrancar looked curious as to what this 'Quidditch' could possibly be.

Jushiro laughed and said looking up at her, "I guess we'll be going then."

Kushina beamed at him and said, "alright! Then I'm going to talk to the headmaster about reserving a few seats for you. Knowing Ichigo, he's going to come and sit in the Slytherin stands."

Nanao looked at her curiously and asked what was on most of the onlookers minds, "why would he sit there if you're in Gryffindor?"

Kushina snickered and explained, "Ichigo's previous incarnation was the Seeker of the Slytherin team in his day. He'll end up sitting in the stands while mocking Malfoy's methods of finding the Snitch. Most of the moves I do I actually learned from Ichigo," she laughed again before disconnecting the call.

She then walked out of her rooms and after greeting the people in the common room then left the room, Hermione was curled up by the fire reading a book and Ron was being challenged by a foolish second year to a game of chess. She walked down to the second floor to the headmasters office entrance, she paused in front of the gargoyle statue and said, "Mar's Bars."

It then leapt out of the way and allowed her to go through, as she set her foot on the stair it began moving like an escalator it stopped at the top of the stairs. She knocked on the door and heard the Headmaster call out, "come in."

As she entered he looked up and beamed at her, Professor McGonagall was in the room as well, she nodded to her Head of House before she said, "if I'm interrupting I can come back later."

Minerva shook her head and said, "you're not interrupting anything. I was just speaking to Albus about who to have as commentator for next year."

Kushina blinked and asked, "can I make a suggestion?"

Minerva nodded, "of course you can. Who would you suggest?"

Kushina smirked at them, "either Susan Bones or Hannah Abbott, both are fairly level headed and not likely to take sides during a match. However if you're looking for a little oddity to the match then I suggest Luna Lovegood."

Minerva wrote down all three names before she stood and said, "I'll speak with you later Albus." With that she walked out of the office presumably to talk with the three girls about being a commentator.

Albus looked up and asked, "what did you need to speak with me about?" He offered her the tin of Lemon drops and after she took one she sat down into the chair across from him.

She smiled and said while sucking on the Lemon Drop, "I was wondering if it would be possible to reserve some seats for some Shinigami. About twelve for the Shinigami and about seven for the Visored, I think if Ichigo comes he'll want to sit with the Slytherins either that or sit next to Severus so he can comment on the stupidity of the Slytherin Seeker."

Albus who was un-sticking a pair of lemon sherbets from each other asked while not looking up, "why would he do that?"

Kushina laughed lightly, "perhaps because he's the reincarnation of Regulus Black."

He looked up and said, "oh, I see, that would make sense. Mr. Black was one of the best Seekers that Slytherin had." Kushina snorted, it would appear that very little could startle the Headmaster of Hogwarts. Albus then said, "of course you can reserve some seats. I'll have the house elves prepare the family stands for their use, families of the players used to come watch the game but that has happened less and less often so the stands have gone mostly unused."

After several more minutes of conversation Kushina left the Headmaster's office and headed back toward the common room to go to sleep. She had classes tomorrow and the match wasn't supposed to take place for another ten days after that.

The day of the match soon dawned and the stands filled with people, several of the students noticed that one part of the stands not normally used was filled with people. On the top row was a man with short silver hair sitting next to Shuhei, then a pair of empty seats beside Shuhei, on the other side of the empty seats was a man with long white hair. Beside him was a man with shoulder length brown hair, who had a broad straw hat on his head and a pink robe draped across his shoulders like a cape. Beside him was a woman with purple hair, dark skin and golden eyes. Sitting beside her was a young teenage girl with short light green hair. In the row below her was a slightly older teen girl with long black hair in a braid, to the left of her was a pair of empty seats, on the other side of the seats was a pair of men one had long blond hair and the other had a spiky afro.

On the other side of the man with the blond hair was a man with short dark hair and beside him was Rukia, beside Rukia was a man with short white hair, he seemed to have a serious look about him. Below the white haired man was a woman with a light tan, she had green eyes and short messy blond hair with three longer locks braided into braids. She was wearing a coat that went up to just below her eyes. Beside her was Orihime, while beside Orihime was a woman wearing a medium green dress, she had blue-green hair and hazel eyes. She also had what appeared to be a scar running from the top of her brow to the tip of her nose and she also had a red stripe going from the outmost part of her right eye to the outmost part of her left eye across the bridge of her nose. Sitting beside her as a woman with long dark hair held in a bun who was wearing glasses with square rims. Beside her was a silver haired woman her silver hair was short and messy, she had several locks of hair that was shoulder length and were braided into two braids, she had thin red earrings dangling from both ears. Sitting beside her was Kenpachi and Yachiru, between the pair was an empty seat, sitting below Yachiru was a young girl with short light brown hair, her bangs were swept toward the right side of her face and she had a red hair clip on the left side of her head. Her dark brown eyes was turned up at Yachiru who was leaning on the back of her seat.

Beside the brown haired girl was a girl with straight black hair cropped to about chin length, she had dark grey eyes, she was talking to the white haired boy beside her, his teal colored eyes were focused only on her. Both were wearing a long sleeved tee shirt and jeans. On the other side of the white haired boy was a young teenage girl with short very light green hair with light pink eyes, she appeared to be poking the dark haired man beside her. The man was leaning back with his eyes closed apparently ignoring the young girl.

Separated by an empty seat from him was a man with light brown hair and golden colored eyes, he was apparently trying to ignore the woman sitting beside him, she had dark colored hair with a pair of feathers stuck to her eyebrow and lashes respectively. (Unknown to the gawking boys, that wasn't a woman at all but the fifth seated officer of the eleventh division. And the reason why Sajin was trying to ignore him was simple, he was going on and on about his twins.)

To the watching students surprise, Hermione dropped down in-between Yachiru and Kenpachi, she appeared to greet the black haired girl and the light brown haired girl before she turned and started talking to Kenpachi. Luna dropped down between the lazing man and the man trying to ignore the person beside him. She turned and announced something to him that made him stare at her in shock.

Neville was leading Professor Snape's dog and both sat down in between Shuhei and the man with long white hair, while Ginny led Tetsuzaemon down to sit between the man with the spiky afro and the girl with the black braided hair. Ginny turned to speak with her while Tetsuzaemon commented something to the man.

The students turned their attention to the game when they heard Lee Jordan announced, "welcome one and all to the first game of the season!" At that they all gave a cheer, Lee laughed before continuing his commenting, "as you can see the Gryffindor team has changed a bit. As you all no doubt remember Oliver Wood graduated and joined Puddlemere United. Now we have Ronald Weasley as Keeper for Gryffindor, the Chasers are as always the ever lovely Alicia Spinnet, Katie Bell and Angelina Johnson! The supreme and ever inseparable Weasley twins. Just try to tell them apart!"

At that McGonagall warned, "Jordan!"

Lee hastily apologized, "sorry professor! And as always the Seeker for Gryffindor is Kushina Potter!"

As he had announced their names they had shot around the pitch and waved, Ron went to hover in front of the goals while the chasers did tricks, the twins did a little bow before hovering next to Yumichika. Kushina however had darted over to Lee and said loud enough for it to be caught by the sonorous, "that's Potter-Lupin!"

Lee laughed before he said, "right you are! And now for the Serpents of Hogwarts, here comes the Slytherins. Apparently there has been some change to the line up, I've been told that the older team members have decided to dedicate the next couple of years to study. So now we have, Lillian Moon for Keeper," the brown haired girl darted out and after a quick loop around the field settled in front of her goals.

Lee continued, "for chasers we have Daphne Greengrass, Tracy Davis and Theodore Nott. Who is actually a good looking bloke and the girls are rather easy on the eyes as well." As the three shot out and when Lee commented on Theodore, Theo's eyes widened and he blushed bright red. The two girls ribbed him about it but when he commented on them they gave the commentator a smile.

Lee gave a smile back and a small bow to the cheers of the stands, "for the beaters we have Blaise Zabini and Daphne's younger sister Astoria. I'm told the girl packs a rather hard blow so don't make her angry at you!"

McGonagall said, "Jordan I'm warning you!"

"Aww, but she doesn't mind!" Lee exclaimed while gesturing at the smirking Astoria.

McGonagall sniffed before she said, "continue Mr. Jordan."

"Yes Professor! And finally we have the Slytherin Seeker Draco Malfoy, who is now also captain of the team." Lee said before the Captains of the team landed beside Madam Hooch, who had the trunk sitting on the ground.

Madam Hooch looked between Malfoy and Angelina, "alright, I want a nice clean game from both of you. Now shake hands."

Malfoy eyed the taller girl and wondered if it would be safe for him to try to crush her hand, he glanced up at Astoria and saw her glaring at him so he decided not to risk it and merely shook the opposing captains hand then shot into the air. Angelina did the same, the six chasers hovered for the release of the Quaffle while the seekers were farther above them for the Snitch. While the beaters stood on standby for the Bludgers.

###########################################

In the teachers box Ichigo was sitting next to Severus while Byakuya was beside him, Ichigo smirked at the commentary provided by Lee. He turned and asked Severus, "so how good of a seeker is Malfoy?"

Severus snorted before he said, "no where near Regulus Black but if he tried to find the snitch himself instead of following Potter around he might actually be good." Most of the teachers didn't know why the orange haired teen smirked when Severus remarked that Draco was no where near Regulus Black's level of play.

After she released the Bludgers and the Snitch she tossed the Quaffle up then got on her broom to supervise the game. Lee commented, "Greengrass gets the Quaffle, tosses to Nott, he appears to be heading to score! No wait! Nott does a Reverse Pass to Davis who shoots! Nice save by Weasley!" The Gryffindors cheer while the Slytherins groan, Lee continued commenting, "Johnson catches Quaffle, tossing to Spinnet, Spinnet tosses to Bell. Oh, wait, Nott steals the Quaffle in mid pass, looks like the Gryffindors are doing the Parkins Pincer, however he tosses to Davis. Oh my! Davis does a long shot, she scores!" The Slytherins cheer, funny enough most of the Slytherins seem to be enjoying this cleaner game more than the normal dirty games.

While Tracy scored, Kushina noticed the snitch was hovering just above the ground in front of the Slytherin stands. However she pretended not to notice it since Malfoy didn't seem to have a clue it was there. She kept her eye on it and then snapped her head toward the Slytherin goals, pretended to see the snitch. Malfoy followed her as she darted toward the goals, fifteen feet before the goals she dived down pretending that the snitch dived. The whole time this was going on Lee was commenting, "oh, my it looks like the Seekers have seen the snitch!"

As he said that Kushina pulled out of the dive about three feet above the ground, Malfoy barely pulled up in time to avoid plowing face first into the dirt. Lee commented, "not the snitch than, it would appear that the Gryffindor seeker was attempting the Wronksi Faint. She did admirably but no go," he commented wryly with a grin.

Beside Severus, Ichigo was shaking his head over how easily his cousin got the Slytherin seeker to fall for her ploy. The Visoreds were smirking over the trick Kushina pulled while Karin told Yuzu, "it's alright you can look. Kushina was just faking," Karin rubbed her sisters back while keeping a close watch on the game. During the fake dive, Gryffindor scored two times, while Slytherin still only had one score. Byakuya glanced at Ichigo and thought to himself, '_Ichigo used to do this in a past life. But it's dangerous!'_

Ichigo laughed and said to Severus, "you weren't joking when you said that Malfoy is no where near Regulus' league. Why in the heck is he playing Seeker, he should have been a chaser not a seeker!" Ichigo gestured to the boy who was still tailing Kushina, "every move he's doing is more tailored to a Chaser than a Seeker."

Severus shrugged, "I don't have a clue. But if he doesn't improve after this game I'm switching him and Davis to see how much better we do."

Ichigo snorts, then Lee comments, "oooh, that's got to hurt. Bludger hits Nott in shoulder knocking the Quaffle out of his hand. Quaffle is caught by Bell who shoots and scores! Nott appears to be okay, though really a blow like that had to hurt!"

An hour later the score was fifty to thirty, with Gryffindor holding the most points. Kushina had done three more fake dives Malfoy falling for two of them, she saw the snitch out of the corner of her eye just in front of the visitor stands, she knew Ichigo had seen it. But Malfoy was still oblivious, she shrugged and thought to her zanpakuto, _**'well is enough, enough? Do you think I should just go ahead and catch it?'**_

She felt amusement from both of them before she heard them mentally chorus, _**'go right ahead!'**_ Once she got their agreement she dived Malfoy followed her and Lee commented absently, "I wonder if she's actually seen it or if this is just another ploy of hers!"

From behind him he overheard as someone said, "it's the real deal. She's concentrating, ignoring the noise of the crowd but paying attention to her surroundings to keep the Bludger away from her."

Kushina pulled up out of her dive to shoot up in front of the Visitor stands and snatched the snitch from in front of Coyote's face. She smirked at him before she said, "no sleeping on my watch!" She then shot out to the middle of the field holding the snitch in the air.

From the commenter's box Lee was shouting the score, "two hundred and ten to sixty. Gryffindor wins! A lovely game played by Slytherin, lets give them a round of applause!"

From the visitor's stand Hermione was jumping up and down holding Yachiru while cheering, "we won! We won!"

Yachiru giggled before she said, "Ka-Chan really likes this game!"

Hermione beamed down at the girl who had jumped from her arms to Kenpachi's lap and said, "no, musume, I just like it when Kushina wins!" Kenpachi had a stunned look on his face, as if you could have knocked him over with a feather while Yachiru beamed at her pleased that Hermione thought of her like that.

On the field the Gryffindors shook hands with the Slytherin team and Ichigo had gone down to congratulate Kushina on both the catch and her fake dives. Draco was scowling at the Gryffindors and as Ichigo passed him, Ichigo commented, "stop playing like a Chaser and play like a Seeker. Either do that or change positions." Draco gaped after the dark haired woman.

He watched as Kushina hugged the woman before handing her the snitch and commented, "here. I know you miss playing with one." Ichigo laughed before releasing the snitch then catching it before it could dart away. After several minutes of that Ichigo handed the snitch back to Kushina so she could put it away.

Kushina gave the snitch to Madam Hooch then after telling the team that she was heading to her room left the pitch with Ichigo. Draco stormed into the Slytherin locker room and completely ignoring the rest of the team stomped into the shower after undressing. Theo shrugged at Blaise, they were the only other males on the team the rest were girls. For the first time in about a hundred years there were females on the Slytherin team.

The Gryffindors declared that there was going to be a party in the common room tonight to celebrate their victory. They invited the Slytherin team to come as well if they wanted, most declined the offer but thanked the team for the invitation.

Before Kushina and Ichigo left the field they noticed Isshin talking with Madam Pomfrey who appeared to be interested in what he was talking about, Yazu and Karin were ignoring their father in favor of talking Toshiro and Yachiru.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Seven hours later the rest of Gryffindor was still partying, the Slytherin team minus Malfoy ended up dropping by if only to satisfy their curiosity about the legendary Gryffindor Parties. Kushina and Ichigo lounged in one of the corners of the common room with Butterbeer bottles in hand, Kushina had repeatedly reassured Byakuya that the small amount of alcohol in the drink wouldn't harm the child. Ichigo and her had just been sipping the drinks and talking quietly, mostly about Kushina's class that she was teaching and about her lessons.

When that talk died down they sat in companionable silence, at least until Ichigo heard his cousin snicker quietly. He looked over at her and asked curiously, "what are you laughing at?"

She pointed over to a pair of boys, one he recognized as the only male Slytherin Chaser and the other was the commentator for the game. He shrugged not seeing what she could be laughing about since the pair were just talking. He turned back to her and said, "alright, I give. What's so funny?"

Kushina laughed lowly before leaning over to whisper in his ear, "watch their body language carefully."

She then leaned back and watched as her cousin leaned forward and intently watched the pair talking by the fire. Theo was sitting in one of the wingback chairs while Lee was standing in front of him, she knew that only careful observation would reveal what was happening between the pair. Her golden eyes gleamed as she watched as realization crept upon her cousin face and he turned to her and exclaimed in a whisper, "they're attracted to each other!"

She raised her bottle in mock toast, "indeed they are. A little doggy told me about how a little snake was watching a certain trio of pranksters one morning. The little snake confessed that he liked a certain non red headed member of said trio but didn't think the person he liked would like him back. I'm seeing if me meddling could help."

Ichigo snickered and asked wryly, "you just can't help yourself can you?"

She shrugged before she turned back to her study of the pair, she cocked her head to the side and made mental notes, her Zanpakuto were pointedly ignoring her mental remarks and actually seemed to be humming to keep from hearing her. She snickered lightly before she continued her mental notes, _'hmm, Nott's laughing and smiling, neither actions appear to be forced so he's genuinely interested in whatever tale Lee is telling him. He's comfortable but still showing off his arms, chest and legs, his gaze is always on Lee's face save for a few once-overs of Lee's body. Ah ha! Theo just straitened his hair, classic male grooming around someone they like!' _She did a mental happy dance, '_boy am I glad I was paying attention to Aunt Masaki when she told me of how she first met Uncle Isshin! Now lets turn our attention to Lee,'_ she thought to herself gleefully.

'_**Let's not!'**_ was the comment from both of her Zanpakuto.

Kushina easily ignored the pair, continuing her observation of the pair and her mental evaluation, '_Lee's standing right in front of Theo…He's making sure that Theo is in the center of his attention as well as being in the center of Theo's attention! Oooh, nice flexing of the shoulders and chest there Lee, you definitely got his attention.' _Kushina gave a slight mental leer, and insider her mind her Zanpakuto had fled to the very back shuddering, they knew how she got when she got it in her head to play matchmaker. '_Hah! Lee's self grooming too!'_ She cackled mentally which made her inner guardians shudder even more, '_oh, yes I do believe this to be a viable pair. I think from now on every Saturday will be a single class and all years are welcome. I wonder if I can convince Astoria to help me this time…'_


	24. Chapter 23: Hagrid's Tale

Chapter Twenty-Three: Hagrid's Tale

A few hours later the trio was in Kushina's room and were talking quietly together, Ron was still riding the high of winning his first game when Hermione glanced out the window and said, "I know something that will make you even more happy!"

Ron looked up, "oh yeah? What's that?"

She pointed a finger at the window and toward Hagrid's hut, she then said with a smile, "Hagrid's back!"

The other two grinned at her before Kushina grabbed her cloak and after making sure both had warm enough clothes to visit him, threw the cloak around all three. They then snuck out to see their largest friend, however before they made it to the third floor Kushina stopped suddenly, "shoot, do we know how much Hagrid is in the loop about my gender?"

Ron and Hermione glanced at each other and Hermione said, "as far as I know he hasn't been informed… And I don't think he's been getting the paper or he would have had Madam Maxime send a howler for him."

Kushina shrugged and said, "oh, well I guess we'll just wing it. He might just excuse it at first as a potions accident." Ron and Hermione nodded before continuing down the stairs, they then crept across the Entrance Hall then out into the silent, snowy grounds. With a great leap of her heart, Kushina saw little golden squares of light ahead and smoke coming from Hagrid's chimney. She set off at a quick march, the other two jostling and bumping along behind her.

They crunched excitedly through the quickly thickening snow until at long last they reached the wooden front door. When Kushina reached up with her fist and knocked on the door three times, a dog started barking frantically inside. "Hagrid, it's us!" Hermione called through the keyhole.

All three heard as gruff voice said, "shoulda known!"

They beamed at each other from under the Cloak; they could tell by Hagrid's voice that he was pleased, he was just pretending to be put out. "Been home three seconds… Out of the way, Fang… out of the way, you dozy dog…

The bolt was drawn back, then the door creaked open and Hagrid's head appeared in the gap.

Hermione screamed while Kushina gulped down a shriek of rage.

"Merlin's beard, keep it down!" Hagrid said hastily, staring wildly over their heads. "Under that Cloak of Harry's, are you? Well, get in, get in!"

"I'm sorry!" gasped Hermione, as the three of them squeezed past Hagrid into the house, she then pulled the Cloak off of them so he could see them. "I just - oh, Hagrid!"

Hagrid gave Kushina an odd look before he turned to Hermione and said hastily, "it's nothing, it's nothing!" Before he shut the door behind them and hurried to close all the curtains, but Hermione continued to gaze up at him in horror while Kushina was attempting to control her rage.

Hagrid's hair was matted with congealed blood and his left eye had been reduced to a puffy slit amid a riot of purple and black bruising. There was many cuts on his face and hands, some of them were still bleeding, and he was moving gingerly, which made Kushina suspect that he had some broken ribs. It was obvious to the trio that he'd just gotten home: a thick black traveling cloak was draped over the back of a chair while a haversack big enough to carry several small children leaned against the wall beside the door.

Hagrid himself, twice the size of a normal man, was now limped over to the fire and placed a copper kettle above it.

"What in the world happened to you?" Kushina demanded, while Fang danced around them all while trying to lick their faces.

"Told you, nothing," Hagrid said firmly. "Want a cuppa?"

"Come off it," said Ron irritably, "you're in a right state!"

"I'm telling' you, I'm fine," Hagrid said, while he straitened up and turned to beam at the three, but winced slightly while doing so. "Blimey, it's good to see you three again - had good summers did you?" He glanced at Kushina oddly again before he asked, "er- Harry did you have an accident with a potion or charm? 'Cause your hair and eyes look different."

Kushina waved her hand before she said, "not now Hagrid I'll tell you about it later. You've been attacked!"

"For the last time, it's nothing!" said Hagrid firmly.

"Would you be saying it was nothing if one of us turned up with a pound of mince instead of a face?" Ron demanded seriously.

"You ought to go see Madam Pomfrey, Hagrid," Hermione said anxiously, "some of those cuts look nasty."

"I'm dealing with it, all right?" Hagrid said repressively.

He walked across the room to the enormous wooden table that stood in the middle of his cabin and twitched aside a tea towel that had been lying on it. Underneath was a raw, bloody, green-tinged steak slightly larger than the average car tire.

"You're not going to eat that, are you, Hagrid?" Ron asked curiously while leaning in for a closer look. "It looks poisonous."

Hagrid snorted before he said, "it's supposed to look like that, it's dragon meat. And I didn't get it to eat."

He then picked up the steak and slapped it over the left side of his face. Greenish blood trickled down into his beard as he gave a soft moan of satisfaction.

"That's better. It helps with the stinging, you know."

"So, are you going to tell us what's happened to you?" Kushina asked.

"Can't, Harry. Top secret. More then my job's worth to tell you that."

"Did the giants beat you up, Hagrid?" asked Hermione quietly while taking a seat across from him.

Hagrid's fingers slipped on the dragon steak and it slid with a squelch onto his chest.

"Giants?" asked Hagrid while he caught the steak before it even reached his belt and he slapped it back over his face, "who said anything about giants? Who've you been talking to? Who told you what I've…Who's said I've been…Eh?"

"We guessed," Hermione said apologetically.

"Oh, you did, did you?" Hagrid asked, while he surveyed her sternly with the eye that wasn't hidden by the steak.

Kushina nodded in agreement when Ron said, "it was kind of…obvious."

Hagrid glared at them, then snorted before he threw the steak back onto the table and strode over to the kettle, which was now whistling shrilly.

"Never known kids like you three for knowing more then you oughta know," he muttered, splashing the boiling water into three of his bucket-shaped mugs. "And I'm not complimenting you, neither. Nosy, some'd call it. Interfering."

But his beard twitched, so they knew he didn't really mean what he said.

"So you have been to look for giants?" Kushina said as she grinned and sat down at the table.

Hagrid set tea in front of each of them, he then sat down, picked up his steak again and slapped it back over his face. "Yeah, all right," he grunted, "I have."

"And you found them?" Hermione said in a hushed voice.

"Well, they're not that difficult to find, to be honest," Hagrid said. "Pretty big, see."

"Where are they?" Ron asked.

"Mountains," said Hagrid rather unhelpfully.

"So why don't muggles - ?"

"They do," said Hagrid darkly. "Only their death are always put down to mountaineering accidents, aren't they?" He adjusted the steak a little so that it covered the worst of the bruising.

"Come on, Hagrid, tell us what you've been up to!" Ron said. "Tell us about being attacked by the giants and we can tell you about running with Moony during the August full moon…"

Hagrid choked in his mug and dropped his steak at the same time; a large quantity of spit, tea and dragon blood was sprayed over the table as Hagrid coughed and spluttered. The steak slid with a soft splat to the floor.

"Whadda you mean, running with Moony?" growled Hagrid.

"Don't you know?" Hermione asked him, wide-eyed.

"I don't know anything that's been happening since I left. I was on a secret mission wasn't I, didn't want owls following me all over the place… I thought the three of you had more sense then to follow a werewolf! You're not serious?"

"Yeah, we are. It was important Hagrid…we'll tell you all about it after you tell us about the giants first."

Hagrid attempted to protest but before he could even blurt out a single word Kushina fixed him with a glare and said, "tell us about your summer and we'll tell you about ours." Hagrid glared at them through his one open eye. Kushina looked right back, an expression of innocent determination on her face.

"Oh, all right," Hagrid said in a resigned voice. He then bent down and tugged the dragon steak out of Fang's mouth.

"Oh, Hagrid, don't, it's not hygien-" Hermione began, but Hagrid had already slapped the steak back over his swollen eye.

He took another fortifying gulp of tea, then said, "well, we set off right after term ended-"

"Madam Maxime went with you, then?" Hermione interjected.

"Yeah, that's right," Hagrid said, and a softened expression appeared on the few inches of face not obscured by beard or green steak. "Yeah, it was just the pair of us. And I'll tell yen this, she's not afraid of roughing it, Olympe. You know, she's a fine, well-dressed woman, an' knowing where we was going I wondered how she'd feel about clambering over boulders and sleeping in the caves and that, but she never complained once."

"You knew where you were going?" Kushina repeated. "You knew where the giants were?"

"Well, Dumbledore knew, and he told us," Hagrid said.

"Are they hidden?" Ron asked. "Is it a secret, where they are I mean."

"Not really," Hagrid said while shaking his shaggy head. "It's just that most wizards aren't bothered where they are, 's'long as it's a good long way away. But where they are is very difficult to get to, for humans anyway, so we needed Dumbledore's instructions. Took us about a month to get there…"

The trio didn't even bother to ask why the journey took so long, with the ministry rife with Voldemort's followers they couldn't afford to tip their hand to soon.

Instead Ron asked, "so you couldn't use magic to get there? You had to act like muggles all the way?"

"Well, not exactly all the way," said Hagrid cagily. "We just had to be careful, 'cause Olympe and me, we stick out a bit -"

Ron made a stifled noise somewhere between a snort and a sniff before he hastily took a gulp of tea.

"…so we're not hard to follow. We were pretending we was going on holiday together, so we got into France and we made like we was heading for where Olympe's school is, 'cause we knew was being tailed by someone from the ministry. We had to go slow, 'cause I'm not really supposed to use magic and we knew the Ministry'd be looking for a reason to run us in. But we managed to give the berk tailing us the slip round about Dee-John…"

"Ooooh, Dijon?" said Hermione excitedly. "I've been there on holiday, did you see…?"

She fell silent at the look on Ron's face.

"We chanced a bit of magic after that and it wasn't a bad journey. Ran into a couple of mad trolls on the Polish border and I had a slight disagreement with a vampire in a pub in Minsk, but apart from that couldn't have been smoother. And then we reached the place, an' we started trekking up through the mountains, looking for signs of 'em . . . We had to lay off the magic once we got near 'em. Partly 'cause they don' like wizards an' we didn't want to put their backs up too soon, and partly 'cause Dumbledore had warned us You-Know-Who was bound to be after the giants and all. Said it was odds on he'd sent a messenger off to them already. Told us to be very careful of drawing attention to ourselves as we got nearer in case there was Death Eaters around."

Hagrid paused for a long draught of tea.

"Go on!" Kushina said urgently.

"Found 'em," said Hagrid baldly. "Went over a ridge one night and there they was, spread out underneath us. Little fires burning below an' huge shadows . . . it was like watching bits of the mountain moving."

"How big are they?" asked Ron in a hushed voice.

"'Bout twenty feet," Hagrid said casually. "some of the bigger ones might've been twenty-five."

"And how many were there?" Kushina asked carefully.

"I reckon about seventy or eighty," said Hagrid.

"Is that all?" Hermione asked sadly.

"Yeah," Hagrid said equally as sadly, "eighty left, and there was loads once, must've been a hundred different tribes from all over the world. But they've been dying out for ages. Wizards have killed a few, of course, but mostly they've killed each other, and now they're dying out faster than ever. They're not made to live bunched up together like that. Dumbledore says it's our fault, it was wizards who forced them to go and made them to live a good long way away from us, and they had no choice but to stick together for their own protection."

"So," said Kushina, "you saw them and then what?"

"well, we waited until morning, didn't want to go sneaking up on them in the dark, for our own safety," Hagrid said. "About three in the morning, they fell asleep just where they was sitting. We didn't dare fall asleep. For one thing, we wanted to make sure none of them woke up and came up where we were, and for another, the snoring was unbelievable. Caused an avalanche near morning. Anyway once it was light enough we went down to see them."

"Just like that?" said Ron, looking awestruck. "You just walked right into a giant camp?"

"Well, Dumbledore'd told us how to do it," said Hagrid. "Give the Gurg gifts, show some respect, you know."

"Give the what gifts?" asked Harry.

"Oh, the Gurg - means the chief."

"How could you tell which one was the Gurg?" asked Ron.

Hagrid grunted in amusement.

"No problem," he said. "He was the biggest, the ugliest and the laziest. Sitting there waiting to be brought food by the others. Dead goats and such like. Name of Karkus. I'd put him at twenty-two, twenty-three feet and the weight of a couple of bull elephants. Skin like rhino hide and all."

"And you just walked up to him?" said Hermione breathlessly.

"Well...down to him, where he was lying in the valley. They was in this dip between four pretty high mountains, see, beside a mountain lake, and Karkus was lying by the lake roaring at the others to feed him and his wife. Olympe and I went down the mountainside…"

"But didn't they try and kill you when they saw you?" asked Ron incredulously.

"It was definitely on some of their minds," said Hagrid, shrugging, "but we did what Dumbledore told us to do, which was to hold our gift up high and keep our eyes on the Gurg and ignore the others. So that's what we did. And the rest of 'em went quiet and

watched us pass an' we got right up to Karkus's feet an we bowed and put our present down in front of him."

"What do you give a giant?" asked Ron eagerly. "Food?"

"Nah, he can get food all right for himself," said Hagrid. "We took him magic. Giants like magic, just don't like us using it against them. Anyway, that first day we gave him a branch of Gubraithian fire."

Hermione said, "Wow!" softly, but Kushina and Ron both frowned in puzzlement.

"A branch of - ?"

"Everlasting fire," said Hermione irritably, "you ought to know that by now. Professor Flitwick's mentioned it at least twice in class!"

"Well, anyway," said Hagrid quickly, intervening before Ron could answer back, "Dumbledore'd bewitched this branch to burn forevermore, which isn't something any wizard could do, and so I laid it down in the snow by Karkus's feet and said, 'A gift to the Gurg of the giants from Albus Dumbledore, who sends his respectful greetings.'"

"And what did Karkus say?" asked Ron eagerly.

"Nothing," said Hagrid. "Didn't speak English."

"You're kidding!"

"Didn't matter," said Hagrid imperturbably, "Dumbledore had warned us that might happen. Karkus knew enough to yell for a couple of giants who knew our lingo an' they translated for us."

"And did he like the present?" asked Ron.

"Oh yeah, it went down a storm once they understood what it was," said Hagrid, turning his dragon steak over to press the cooler side to his swollen eye. "Very pleased. So then I said, 'Albus Dumbledore asks the Gurg to speak with his messenger when he returns tomorrow with another gift.'"

"Why couldn't you speak to them that day?" asked Hermione.

"Dumbledore wanted us to take it very slow," said Hagrid. "Let 'em see we kept our promises. We'll come back tomorrow with another present, and then we do come back with another present - gives a good impression, see? And gives them time to test out the first present and find out if it's a good one, and get 'em eager for more. In any case, giants like Karkus - overload 'em with information an' they'll kill you just to simplify things. So we bowed out of the way and went off and found ourselves a nice little cave to spend that night in and the following morning we went back and this time we found Karkus sitting up waiting for us looking all eager."

"And you talked to him?"

"Oh yeah. First we presented him with a nice battle helmet - goblin-made and indestructible, you know - and then we sat down and we talked."

"What did he say?"

"Not much," Hagrid said. "Listened mostly. But there were good signs. He'd heard of Dumbledore, heard he'd argued against the killing of the last of giants in Britain. Karkus seemed to be quite interested in what Dumbledore had to say. And a few of the others, especially the ones who had some English, they'd gathered around and listened too. We were hopeful when we left that day. Promised to come back the next morning with another present. But that night, it went all wrong."

"What d'you mean?" said Ron quickly.

"Well, like I said, they're not meant to live together, giants," Hagrid said sadly. "Not in big groups like that. They can't help themselves, they kill half of each other every few weeks. The men fight each other and the women fight each other; the remnants of the old tribes fight each other, and that's without all the squabbles over food and the best fires and sleeping spots. You'd think, seeing as how their whole race is about finished, they'd lay off of each other, but…" Hagrid sighed deeply.

"That night, a fight broke out, we saw it from the mouth of our cave, looking down on the valley. Went on for hours, you wouldn't believe the noise. And when the sun came up, the snow was scarlet and his head was lying at the bottom of the lake."

"Whose head?" gasped Hermione.

"Karkus's," Hagrid said heavily. "There was a new Gurg, Golgomath." He sighed deeply. "Well, we hadn't bargained on a new Gurg just two days after we'd made friendly contact with the first one, and we had the funny feeling Golgomath wouldn't be so keen to listen to us, but we had to try."

"You went to speak to him?" asked Ron incredulously. "After you'd watched him rip off another giant's head?"

"Course we did," Hagrid said irritably, "we hadn't gone all that way just to give up after two days! We went down with the next present we'd meant to give to Karkus. I knew it was a no go before I'd opened my mouth. He was sitting there wearing Karkus's helmet, leering at us as we got nearer. He's massive, one of the biggest of them. Black hair and matching teeth and a necklace of bones. Human-looking bones, some of them. Well I gave it a go…Held out a great roll of dragon skin and said, 'A gift for the Gurg of the giants…' Next thing I know, I'm hanging upside down in the air by my feet, two of his mates had grabbed me."

Hermione clapped her hands to her mouth.

"How did you get out of that!" asked Kushina.

"I wouldn't have id Olympe hadn't have been there," Hagrid said. "She pulled out her wand and did some of the fastest spell work I've ever seen. Ruddy marvelous. Hit the two holding me right in the eyes with the Conjunctivitus Curse and they dropped me straightaway. But we were in trouble then, cause we used magic against them, and that what giants hate most about wizards. We had to leg it and we knew there was no way we was going to be able to march into the camp again."

"Blimey, Hagrid," said Ron quietly.

"So, how come it's taken you so long to get home if you were only there for three days?" asked Hermione.

"We didn't leave after three days!" said Hagrid, looking outraged. "Dumbledore was relying on us!"

"But you've just said there was no way you could go back!"

"Not by daylight we couldn't, no. We just had to rethink a bit. Spent a couple of days lying low up in the cave and watching. And what we saw wasn't good."

"Did he rip off more heads?" asked Hermione, sounding squeamish.

"No," said Hagrid, "I wish he had."

"What d'you mean?"

"I mean we soon found out he didn't object to all wizards…just us."

"Death Eaters?" said Kushina quickly.

"Yep," Hagrid growled darkly. "couple of them were visiting him every day, bringing gifts to the Gurg and he wasn't dangling them upside down."

"How d'you know they were Death Eaters?" said Ron.

"Because I recognized one of 'em," Hagrid growled. "Macnair, remember him? Bloke they sent to kill Buckbeak? Maniac, he is. Likes killing as much as Golgomath; no wonder they were getting on so well."

"So Macnair's persuaded the giants to join You-Know-Who?" said Hermione desperately.

"Hold your Hippogriffs, I haven't finished my story yet!" Hagrid said indignantly, who, considering he'd not wanted to tell them anything in the first place, now seemed to be rather enjoying himself. "Me and Olympe talked it over and we agreed that just 'cause the Gurg looked like he was favoring You-Know-Who didn't mean all of them would. We had to try and persuade some of the others, the ones who hadn't wanted Golgomath as Gurg."

"How could you tell which ones they were?" asked Ron.

"Well, they were the ones being beaten to a pulp, weren't they?" Hagrid said patiently. "The ones with any sense were keeping out of Golgomath's way, hiding out in caves round the gully, just like we were. So we decided to go poking around the caves by night and see if we couldn't persuade a few of them."

"You went poking around dark caves looking for giants?" said Ron, with awed respect in his voice.

"Well, it wasn't the giants who worried us the most," Hagrid said wryly. "We were more concerned about the Death Eaters. Dumbledore had told us before we left that we weren't to tangle with them if we could avoid it. And the trouble was they knew we were around, I suspect that Golgomath told them about us. At night, when the giants were sleeping and we wanted to be creeping into the caves, Macnair and the other one was sneaking around the mountains looking for us. I was hard pressed to stop Olympe from jumping them," said Hagrid fondly, the corners of his mouth lifting his wild beard. "She's something else when roused, Olympe…Fiery, you know…suspect it's the French in her…"

Hagrid gazed misty-eyed into the fire. Kushina would have allowed him more than thirty seconds of reminiscence normally but she was a bit impatient so she cleared her throat loudly after just a short thirty seconds.

"So, what happened? Did you ever get near any of the other giants?"

"What? Oh…oh, yeah, we did. Yeah, on the third night after Karkus was killed we crept out of the cave we'd been hiding in and headed back down into the gully, keeping our eyes skinned for the Death Eaters. Got inside a few of the caves, no go…Then in about the sixth one we found three giants hiding."

"Cave must've been cramped," said Ron.

"Wasn't room to swing a Kneazle," Hagrid said.

"Didn't they attack you when they saw you?" asked Hermione.

"Probably would've if they'd been in any condition to do anything," Hagrid said, "but they were too badly hurt, all three of them; Golgomath's lot had beaten them unconscious; they'd woken up and crawled into the nearest shelter they could find. Anyway, one of them knew a bit of English and he translated for the others, and what we had to say didn't seem to go down too badly. So we kept going back and visiting the wounded… I reckon we had about six or seven of them convinced at one point…"

"Six or seven?" said Ron eagerly. "Well that's not bad - are they going to come over here and start fighting You-Know-Who with us?"

But Hermione said, "What do you mean 'at one point', Hagrid?"

Hagrid looked at her sadly.

"Golgomath's lot raided the caves. The ones that survived didn't want no more to to do with us after that."

"So . . . so there aren't any giants coming?" said Ron, looking disappointed.

"Nope," Hagrid said before he heaved a deep sigh as he turned over the steak and applied the cooler side to his face, "but we did what we had meant to do, we gave them Dumbledore's message and some of them heard it, and I suspect that some of them will remember it. Just maybe, the ones that don't wasn't to stay around Golgomath will move out of the mountains, and there has got to be a chance that they'll remember Dumbledore's friendly toward them…Could be they'll remember that and come…Maybe."

Snow was filling up the window now. Kushina suddenly became aware that the knees of her robes were soaked through: Fang was drooling with his head in her lap.

"Hagrid?" said Hermione quietly after a while.

"Mmm?"

"Did you … was there any sign of… did you hear anything about your … Your… mother while you were there?"

Hagrid's un-obscured eye rested upon her and Hermione looked rather scared.

"'I'm sorry… I… forget it -"

"Dead," Hagrid grunted. "Died years ago. They told me."

"Oh… I'm… I'm really sorry," said Hermione in a very small voice. Hagrid shrugged his massive shoulders.

"No need," he said shortly. "Can't remember her much. Wasn't a great mother."

They were silent again. Hermione glanced nervously at Harry and Ron, plainly wanting them to speak.

"But you still haven't explained how you got in this state, Hagrid," Ron said, gesturing towards Hagrid's bloodstained face.

"Or why you're back so late," said Kushina. "Sirius says Madame Maxime got back ages ago -"

"Who attacked you?" said Ron.

"I haven't been attacked!" Hagrid said empathically. "And the lot of you promised to tell me what in the world you was doing romping around with a werewolf on a full moon!"

So the three explained that after an incident the Order believed that two members weren't dead as previously believed. When he heard who it was that they thought was alive he gaped at them before he demanded to know if it was true, Kushina nodded, "yeah, they're both alive and teaching at Hogwarts. Dad's teaching Transfiguration to the fifth through seventh years."

Hermione took over and said, "while Professor Lily is teaching Potions years first through fifth."

Hagrid gestured toward Kushina and said, "so what's up with your hair, Harry?"

Kushina rolled her eyes and said, "because this is my natural hair and eye color Hagrid. Dad hid what I looked like for my own safety." She stared at him while he gazed at her blankly, clearly confused, she sighed before bluntly stating, "I'm a girl Hagrid." With that she tossed her winter cloak off of her shoulder and Hagrid gaped at the clearly female form that had been concealed underneath it.

Ron snorted and said, "if you think that's a shock you should hear 'bout who Snape's married to."

Hermione slapped him upside the head and said crossly, "I would think that Sirius and Professor Snape would be the ones to tell him not you, Ron." Hermione's eyes widened and she slapped her hand over her mouth while muttering, "I shouldn't have said that, I shouldn't have said that!"

"Now who has the big mouth," Ron muttered out of the corner of his mouth at her, she glared at him.

Hagrid gaped even further at the trio, who looked back at him sheepishly, and he spluttered, "what do you mean, Professor Snape is married to Sirius Black! You're no serious…"

However, the rest of his words were drowned in a sudden outbreak of rapping on the door. Hermione gasped; her mug slipped through her fingers and smashed on the floor; Fang yelped. All four of them stared at the window beside the doorway.

Then all four heard as a very familiar voice called out, "Hagrid, do you by chance have a certain trio of children in your home?"

Hagrid looked at the three before the trio nodded and motioned for him to answer positively, "aye, I do." Hagrid walked over to the door and unlocked it to allow the person waiting to be let in to step inside.

With a swish of a long black cloak Professor Snape stalked into the warm and cozy hut. He looked to see his goddaughter looking a bit sheepish while her best friends were avoiding looking at him. He stared at Kushina and said, "I do not believe that you have permission to come see Hagrid this late at night. At least with company, I will not give you detention since Hagrid did just return from his journey and you were no doubt worried."

The three sighed with relief before he said, "however I do expect you to head to your common room immediately. No dawdling."

Kushina nodded before she gestured for Ron and Hermione to get under the Cloak, she then hugged Severus and said, "goodnight Uncle 'Rus." He ruffled her hair before nodding goodnight to Hagrid and setting off back to the castle, not to mention his warm bed.

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As he crawled back into bed Sirius turned over and opened sleepy eyes as he asked huskily, "where did you go?"

Severus snorted before pulling his husband close to him, "the trio went to visit Hagrid."

Sirius nuzzled Severus's neck and said, "so he's back then."

Severus hummed in answer before pressing a kiss to Sirius cheek and said, "go back to sleep. Hagrid will be there to question in the morning." Sirius muttered slightly before he closed his eyes and dropped back into slumber. Severus looked down at his mutt fondly before he whispered in Sirius's ear, "I love you as well, my silly mutt."


	25. Chapter 24: Winter Surprises

Chapter Twenty-Four: Winter Surprises

Before anyone in the castle knew it the winter break was soon dawning on them, most of the students signed up to go home, even Kushina had signed up to leave while Ron and Hermione had already signed up to leave. Hermione would be spending the first part of break with her parents then on Christmas eve come to stay with Kushina and the others. Ron and his family would be staying a Grimmauld Place, Kushina and a few others would be staying at Jackal's Lair. Dean and Seamus were also heading home so was Neville, Gryffindor was mostly empty of students to be staying behind. Kushina had snagged Astoria and her sister to issue an invitation to come to her house for a small party on Christmas day.

Both agreed to speak to their parents, Kushina had slipped a note to Astoria that asked her to see about dragging Theodore with her to the party. Astoria was conspiring with Kushina to get Lee and Theodore to admit that they like each other. So all Astoria did was smirk and nod before she muttered, "I'll try but I make no promises."

Kushina hugged her and murmured in her ear, "that's all I can ask."

On the sixteenth of December, Sirius had gone to see Madam Pomfrey about the nausea he had been having during the morning. She had conducted a medical exam and after one of the diagnostic charms said, "congratulations, you're pregnant."

Sirius had gaped at her before he exclaimed, "I'm what!"

She looked at the shell shocked man amused and reiterated, "you are pregnant. Would you like me to inform your husband or would you like to handle that?"

Sirius dropped a hand to his stomach and said dazedly, "I'll tell him myself. It'll be a good Christmas present, don't you think?"

She laughed and said, "that it will, that it will."

Kreacher and the guests had decorated the house so when they got there the Weasley's, Potter's and the kids hardly had any decorating to do. James had transfigured a few things into stags, wolves, lions, cheetahs, tigers and leopards. He then hung them all over the place, on the tree on the garland above the fireplace, he even made glass statues to place on the bookshelves in the library.

To Sirius's shock all of the serpent motifs had been replaced with lions and dogs, his mother's portrait had been moved as well. When he asked Kreacher where it was Kreacher told him that he had moved the portraits to the attic so they wouldn't bother masters guests. Kreacher had also repainted the house with blues, greens, reds and golds. It ended up being quite calming and even welcoming to the Slytherins.

Kushina had stood in the hall before she patted Kreacher on the shoulder and said, "I approve, it looks much better than before." Kreacher beamed ecstatically up at her, especially when Sirius had muttered his agreement to her statement.

They all spent the four days before Christmas eve doing last minute shopping while Kenpachi dragged Kushina out with him for advice on what to get Hermione. As they passed through a book shop, Kushina noticed a book on the language of flowers and with a shark grin handed it to Kenpachi who merely asked, "what? Do you think she'd want this book?"

Kushina slapped him upside the head and said, "no, silly. Use this book to give her a bouquet of flowers and then have her open the book on Christmas day. If I know her, she'll look up the flower and you can use them to communicate without actually saying a word to her."

Finally all the shopping was done and the other's arrived before they knew it, Hermione had come by on the twenty-third. Her parents were heading for a skiing trip in the Swiss alps, since she never enjoyed skiing she had them drop her off at Grimmauld Place early. Kenpachi had greeted her with a grin and a hug, Kushina had hugged her friend while Ron merely hung by the door and nodded to her. Hermione's parents were clearly wondering who this large man with the scars was so Hermione dragged Kenpachi over to meet them, Yachiru came barreling out of the house chattering excitedly about her Ka-Chan.

Kenpachi without thinking caught Yachiru around the waist before she could fall and hurt herself, he ignored her tugging on his hair with the ease of long practice. When Yachiru jumped down to hug Hermione, he merely shifted so she'd have less of a way to jump. The whole while he was speaking to the others and then he heard from behind him, "oh, captain… The Head captain wishes to speak to you concerning Ikkaku."

Kenpachi sighed and said, "fine, I'll go talk to him. Watch Yachiru, Yumichika."

The fifth seat pouted but gamely said to Yachiru, "is there a game you want to play, Yachiru?"

Yachiru paused in thought before she grinned and said, "tag!" She then tapped him on the forehead and raced off laughing.

Yumichika sighed but chased after his lieutenant, Hermione's parents looked down at their daughter who was watching the two race around bemusedly. Hermione mother said, "sweetheart." Hermione hummed to let her know she was listening, "just what is that man and girl to you?"

Hermione looked up at her mother and said, "well, I like Yachiru, she's rather sweet. Kenpachi, well…Kenpachi is Kenpachi, he's courting me."

Her father raised his brow and said dangerously, "courting you?"

She glanced up at him and laughed, "courting is different in the wizarding world, a man will only court a woman if he's serious. Since I'm currently under seventeen he has certain rules that he has to follow."

Her mother stared at her curiously before she asked, "like what?"

Hermione rolled her eyes, "simple, during the first stage of courtship both parties must have at least one person representing them present. During that stage it is expected that the pair converse to see if they are compatible, if they are they can proceed to the next stage which is wooing and gift giving. The female or the one being wooed must not give a gift unless they have been given one. Me and Kenpachi have barely entered the second stage of the courtship. Third stage allows us to go on public dates, such as to dinner and a movie. Fourth stage is marriage proposal, the fifth is if I accept the proposal, if I accept then he will take me to a dance where it will be formally announced and a wedding date will be set." The whole time she was explaining the pair chasing each other had finally collapsed, or rather Yumichika had collapse while Yachiru was bouncing on her heels before she came over to Hermione who scooped up the child and set her on her hip.

After several moments of conversation and repeated reassurances by Hermione to her parents that, "yes, I'm happy. No I won't rush into this, and of course I'll be careful." With a wave she sent her parents off to their trip before she walked into the house and glared at Kushina before she said, "that was an awkward conversation."

Kushina laughed then dragged Hermione upstairs to her room where they got her settled in, Kenpachi's room was below hers.

The next day, Kushina, Molly, Sirius and Lily prepared the dinner with Kreacher's help, Kreacher was assigned to keep all hungry mouths away from the dinner. Ichigo had come by briefly to say hello and inform them that he would be by tomorrow with his family and Byakuya. Kushina sent Ichigo off with a small cake and said, "share it with Byakuya!" Ichigo waved in acknowledgement before disappearing toward Jackal's Lair.

After dinner had been eaten and dessert savored, everyone gathered in the living room where Sirius stood in front of the fireplace and announced, "it's a bit of a tradition that was started in 1975 by myself, Remus and James. We would open one present before we went to bed then opened the rest the next morning before breakfast. I would like to keep this tradition so, Kreacher will hand everyone a single gift of theirs that they may open." With that Kreacher popped a single gift either in their lap or in front of them.

Kushina opened her present to reveal a book, it was a very rare defense text that she had been looking for ever since she had seen it referenced by several other books. She squealed before hugging Neville. Neville laughed and said, "I thought you might like that book."

Her gold eyes gleamed as she said, "like it? I love it!" She then started paging through the book while Neville opened his present, he took one look at the present then fainted, Kushina leaned over and said, "you okay Neville?"

He sat up and with shaking hands took out the seeds inside before he beamed up at Kushina, "I'm terrific, Kushina. Can you thank your fiancé for me?"

Kushina raised her brow but said, "sure or you can wait and thank him tomorrow."

The pair heard a shriek from Ron while Hermione whooped, they looked over to see Ron being fanned by Rukia while Hermione was salivating over five books. In front of Ron was a set of Quidditch robes in bright orange, Kushina laughed and said, "I guess Kisuke present for Ron was a hit."

Remus had received a gold cashmere sweater from Hermione, while James had gotten a subscription for a year for transfigurations monthly from Lily. Lily had gotten Kimono from Kushina that had dragon lily's embroidered on it. As last minutes gifts she had gotten some humorous tee shirts for the Arrancar and shinigami that she thought they might enjoy. The shirts had saying written on the front only four got their shirts that night since they had to get back to soul society that night. The ones who received their presents laughed about them, luck of the draw had Jushiro getting that present as his single one to open until Christmas day.

For Shunsui it was '**When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. Then find someone whose life has given them vodka, and have a party!' **He snickered over it and said, "huh, that fits me to a tee."

For Jushiro she had gotten him, **'Lead me not into temptation…I can find it by myself.'** Shunsui laughed and said, "suits you, Jushiro." Jushiro slapped him on the shoulder but smiled at the shirt.

Kensei and Shuhei got one each as well, Kensei's said, **'I know the Voices aren't real. But they have great ideas!'** Shuhei's said, **'Why be difficult when just with a little effort you can be impossible!'**

Shuhei had laughed and after hugging her said, "thanks. This will be fun to wear when I'm not working."

Kensei had shook his head before he said, "still giving crazy shirts out for Christmas I see."

She shrugged and said, "why get off a winner."

The rest had gathered their presents and went up stairs to sleep while Shunsui, Shuhei, and Kensei left. Before Shuhei and Kensei left Kushina handed them four parcels, Shuhei looked at her curiously, she explained, "those are the presents for Uryu, Grimmjow, Ulquiorra and Renji. Can you give them to them for me?"

Kensei nodded before the pair left for Karakura Town via Jackal's Lair's basement. Kushina then walked upstairs to her room and set aside her newest book before she flicked her wrist and put of a privacy ward then called out for Dobby. Dobby took her straight to Naruto's apartment, she easily jumped up to his window and knocked on it. After seeing who it was he let her in with a grin and as soon as she climbed inside he gave her a hug.

After she hugged him she handed him a present and said, "it's a local tradition where I'm currently at to give a present to someone on today." He blinked but shrugged and opened the present, he looked down at the handheld mirror confused and looked up at her questioningly.

She smiled and explained while making him dinner, "it's a communication mirror. If you call out my name it'll send me a message and I'll answer it. I'll be able to see you and you'll be able to see me. Try it out," she said while putting the plate of food in front of him.

Naruto shrugged and said, "Ryuu-Okaasan."

To his surprise he heard a small beeping sound from Ryuu's Kunai holster and she reached in and said, "accept."

When he looked at the mirror he was startled to see her mask staring out at him and she said, "hello little one." He heard it from both the mirror and from the kitchen where she was standing. He then heard as she said, "disconnect," once she had said that her image disappeared and his image took it's place.

As he ate she explained that her mission was taking her beyond the veil surrounding the elemental countries and that his mirror was only connected to hers, she laughed softly, "all of my friends believe me to be killed in action the only ones who are aware otherwise is my husband and you. That's why I told you before not to go asking around about me." As she explained she washed the dishes.

Naruto blinked and commented, "so I shouldn't ask about you any more than I ask about Crow."

She cocked her head to the left and asked curiously, "who's Crow and why can't you ask about them? He must have been given the position after I was given the assignment outside the veil."

Naruto laughed and said, "he probably was promoted after you left. As for why I can't talk about him is simple. He was given an order by the Idiot Trio on the council but he disobeyed his orders by allowing a child to live so he was forced to become a missing nin. Crow was Itachi Uchiha and his assignment was to eliminate the Uchiha Clan, he disobeyed by allowing his little brother to live."

Kushina stared at him in shock before she snorted and said, "well that figures. Knowing Mikoto though she probably had an escape plan in place, the Uchiha that had been killed were more likely to be blood clones than actual people. How old was Itachi's brother at the time?" She asked quietly.

Naruto shrugged, "eight I think. Either eight or nine years old. Why?"

Kushina snorted, "because eight year olds cannot have a blood clone made. But anyone over that age can. If Itachi did indeed kill his clan except for the youngest member than the clan is still alive. I should know, I'm the one who came up with the back up plan." She then looked at Naruto oddly and asked, "who in the frilly heck is the Idiot Trio?"

Naruto giggled and explained, "Crow used to call a certain three members of the Village Council that."

Kushina looked up at him and asked, "which three?"

Naruto looked at her and blinked but answered, "Homura Mitokado, Koharu Utantane and Danzo Shimura."

Kushina snickered and said, "I quite agree with my little godson. They deserved to be called the Idiot Trio!" She then collapsed into a giggle fit and managed to gasp out, "if you see him, tell him that Ryuu-Chan congratulates her little Crow on his name for the Idiot Trio."

Naruto shrugged but said, "sure. If I run across him anytime soon I'll tell him you said that."

She reached up and gave him a kiss on the forehead before she said, "you are the sweetest boy I've ever met." Naruto blushed both at the kiss and for the words, she laughed at his blush and then said, "if you want to make him do something, just give him some pocky. He'll follow you to hell and back if you do."

Naruto laughed but made a mental note to himself to always keep some pocky on him just in case he ran into Crow. The pair talked for a few hours before Naruto began to yawn and Kushina tucked him into bed. After making sure the house was secure she left Konoha and disappeared. During the two hours they were talking she had put the second seal on him, this time it was located on his lower back at the base of his spine.

As soon as she got back to Grimmauld Place she flopped back into bed with an amused smile on her face and thought to herself as she fell asleep, '_Minato-love, you'd be so very proud of our son. Well except for his pranking ways then you'd wail about how you should have known he'd be just like his mother.'_

##################################################

While Kushina was off in Konoha, Sirius and Severus were in their room getting ready for bed. Severus had noticed that Sirius was acting nervous and asked, "what's wrong?"

Sirius jumped and said, "nothing, absolutely nothing is wrong." but he was twitching and not looking at his husband when he said it.

Severus raised a black eyebrow at him and said, "don't lie to me, Sirius. Now what is wrong?"

Sirius sighed but patted the bed beside him, Severus took the seat and after Sirius took his hand he said, "nothing is wrong per se. However I have something to tell you and I don't quite know how to put it."

Severus frown and asked tentatively, "are you sick? I know you went to see Madam Pomfrey about something since she told me that although you would throw up for a while that would pass fairly soon."

Sirius winced and said, "well that has something to do with it. And all of my symptoms will be over with in about oh, seventh months." When he noticed that Severus was beginning to panic he blurted out, "I'm pregnant."

Severus gaped and said, "pregnant? You're pregnant? Poppy's sure?"

Sirius nodded and said, "yeah. We're both pretty sure, near as Poppy can figure I got pregnant on November 4th or 5th." Severus swayed and Sirius looked at him nervously before he asked, "you're not upset about it, are you?"

Severus smiled slightly but pulled Sirius on top of him, falling back onto the bed and said, "no, I'm not upset. I'm ecstatic." He then turned onto his side then placed his hand low on Sirius's stomach and thought to himself, _'I can't believe we created a life together.'_

Sirius looked down and when he saw the awe on his husbands face he smiled and thought to himself, '_nope, he's not upset at all.'_

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The next morning Kushina woke up early and went downstairs to start breakfast for everyone as well as the guests that would be dropping by, although it would only be Isshin, Yazu, Karin, Ichigo, Byakuya, Coyote, and Lilynette.

She decided to make a simple breakfast of eggs, bacon, toast and pancakes, however for those from Japan she decided to fix a traditional Japanese breakfast. She decided to make Tamagoyaki or rolled omelet, while she was preparing the egg mixture she had some rice steaming. Hermione came into the kitchen right as Kushina began mixing the ingredients for the omelet and she asked, "Kushina, what are you making?"

Kushina looked over her shoulder and said, "Tamagoyaki, its basically a rolled omelet and it's pretty good. Wanna watch me make it?"

Hermione smiled and said, "sure," before she hopped up on a bar stool to watch.

Kushina got out six large eggs and beat them until fluffy, she then set aside the eggs and mixed the dashi stock with two tablespoons of mirin, one tablespoon of superfine sugar, one teaspoon of soy sauce and one teaspoon of salt. Once the ingredients were thoroughly mixed she poured them into the eggs and stirred it together. While she was doing that she had set a rectangle pan on the stove, it had one wooden handle and it measured six and three quarter inches on the long sides and four and three quarter inches on the short sides. The pan was about an inch deep, Hermione noticed a set of chopsticks off to the side but didn't ask why Kushina had them near the pan.

Kushina poured a small amount of oil on a paper towel coated the bottom of the pan with the oil. She then poured an amount of the egg mixture into the pan, coating the bottom of the pan evenly, once the omelet had started to set she rolled it up toward the far end of the pan. She then coated the exposed pan with oil again and poured some more egg in the pan repeating the process, however this time when pouring the egg into the pan she lifted the omelet up with the chopsticks she had used to roll it, thus allowing the egg mixture to go underneath.

Once the second layer of egg started to set Kushina rolled the finished omelet in it making in larger, she repeated the process until all of the egg mixture was gone. She had made a total of three rolled omelet three layers thick, she had moved the rolls as they were finished gently to a sushi rolling mat covered with a clear sheet of plastic wrap. She had rolled the omelets firmly into the mat and left them to stand rolled for five minutes while she was making the other omelets.

Kushina then grated a one inch piece of daikon on a very fine grater, she squeezed the juice out of the grated daikon with her hand. She then cut the rolled omelets into one inch slices crossways, once she was finished cutting the omelet she placed the slices onto a platter and put the grated daikon off to one side.

During the making of the second omelet the rice had finished and Kushina dished it into several bowls, placing warming and preservation charms on the food. Kushina had prepared Miso soup earlier and had it ready to eat by the time the first omelet was finished. After all of the food was prepared, Kushina had Hermione watch it and went upstairs to wake everyone for breakfast.

Kreacher had completely made over the house, the ground floor now held the kitchen, the dinning room, the living room, and the library. Kreacher had remade the library from the ballroom. The first floor had only five bedrooms with attached bathrooms now instead of ten bedrooms sharing a single bathroom. The second, third, and fourth floors shared the same plan as the first. But the fifth floor was the master suite, as well as three other bedrooms with attached bathrooms. While the attic now held all the portraits and was also used for storage of items they no longer used.

On the first floor Isane had the room across from the stairs while beside her was Nanao's room, across from Nanao's room was Jushiro's room. By Jushiro's room was Tia's and Nel's, since neither Arrancar had felt comfortable being alone in a room, they shared. Across from the female Arrancar was Yumichika. Kushina knocked on all of the doors and said, "breakfast is ready." Once she heard the thumps and groans of people dragging themselves out of bed she went up to the second floor.

On the second floor, Kenpachi had the bedroom nearest the stairs while Yachiru's bedroom was next to his, across from Yachiru's room was Rukia's bedroom while Tetsuzaemon's room was next to hers an across from his was his captains room. She again repeated the method of knocking on doors and calling out that breakfast was ready. She waited until she heard most of the floors inhabitants moving around to go up to the third floor.

On the third floor Hermione's room was in the same place as Kenpachi's so she skipped that door as well as the one beside it since that was her room. Ron's room was right across from her own so she knocked once then stuck her head in and said, "Ron, you've missed breakfast!" She snickered as her red haired friend jumped out of bed and shot past her down the stairs. Rukia had just come out of her room when Ron had raced down the stairs so she walked up to the third floor to ask whoever was laughing up there what was going on.

When she saw Kushina leaning against an open door laughing she smiled and asked, "why did Ron just run down the stairs?"

Kushina laughed before she said, "simple, it's 'cause I woke him up by telling him he missed breakfast."

Rukia laughed but went back down the stairs to go to the kitchen, Kushina on the other hand knocked on the room by Ron's to wake up Ginny, Ginny opened the door and asked, "is breakfast ready?"

Kushina nodded and from behind her, she heard the door open and the twins ask, "was that our youngest brother's lovely voice screaming that breakfast is gone?"

Kushina looked at them with her eyes twinkling, "well it was the only way to get him up as fast as I wanted him too." The twins snickered before they ducked back into their shared room, Kushina turned back to Ginny and said, "well I'm going to wake up the adults and Neville next." With that she turned and walked up the stairs to the fourth floor, she laughed quietly to herself as she walked up them, it never ceased to surprise her how gullible Ron is in the morning.

On the fourth floor, Molly and Arthur had the bedroom directly across from the stairs and in the room beside them was Neville. Across from Neville's room was Percy's room, Percy had gotten into the house around eleven o'clock last night. Kreacher had woken her up and asked what room to put him in, she told him to put him in the only empty room in the house before falling back asleep. Beside Percy's room was Bills and directly across from Bill's room was Alice and Franks room.

Molly and Arthur were already awake and getting dressed when she knocked on their room, same with Percy and Bill. Neville was still asleep so she woke him up by tapping on his shoulder, he had learned to sleep deeply or lose sleep while sharing a dorm room with Kushina's nightmares and Ron's snoring. Alice and Frank were asleep but woke up when Kushina knocked on their door to let them know that breakfast was done.

After everyone was awake on the fourth floor Kushina made her way to the fifth floor and woke up her parents who had the room across from the stairs while her Aunt Lily had the room beside them. Kushina decided to err on the side of caution and sent Kreacher to wake up Sirius and Severus. She then bounded downstairs to find everyone waiting in the kitchen, but before she could enter the kitchen she heard a knock from the door.

When she opened the door she found Coyote Starrk, Lilynette Gingerbuck as well as her cousins and her Uncle on the other side along with Byakuya Kuchiki who was actually wearing blue jeans and the shirt she sent him for Christmas. She snickered as she read it and she knew that only Ichigo could have made Byakuya wear a shirt that said, '**If at first you don't succeed, destroy all evidence that you tried.' **She invited them in and after everyone made it downstairs they ate breakfast, the pair of Arrancar were also wearing their shirts and upon seeing the words on the shirt both Nel and Tia snickered.

Lilynette's shirt said, **'Dear Karma, I have a list of people you missed.' **However it was Coyote's that made them laugh the hardest, even Lily laughed when she read it, Coyote's shirt said, **'I'm not lazy. I'm physically conservative.'**

After breakfast was finished they all went into the living room to open the presents left there last night. After the gifts had been passed out it was decided that the youngest among them would open their presents first, since everyone had sent the present to the Kurosaki's to open in Karakura it was Ginny who was the youngest.

Ginny had received her usual sweater from Molly while Kushina had given her a Kimono, it had images of winged feathered serpents embroidered on it. From Hermione she got a set of Quidditch armor. Ron and the rest of her brothers gave her a signed note stating that they wouldn't try to sabotage her relationship with Tetsuzaemon Iba. Sirius had given her one half of a set of communication mirrors along with a note stating that Tetsuzaemon had the other one.

Kushina and Neville were the next youngest, so they opened their presents one after the other. Kushina had gotten a sword care kit from Kenpachi, while Kensei had given her a motorcycle (it was stored at Jackal's Lair), she had gotten a Shoji set from Shinji and Hiyori. Love and Lisa had managed to find a very rare set of books beyond the veil surrounding the elemental countries. They had gotten her a set of autographed Icha Icha Books. Ichigo gave her several sketches from around the Seireitei, while Yoruichi gave her a scroll describing several Shunko moves. The shinigami and Visored who couldn't make the party sent her photos and letters.

Hermione had given her two cartridges of the newest Nintendo games including one that was called Pokemon, she thought Kushina might enjoy playing it. Ron on the other hand gave her a book on strategy, Kushina joked that it was quite the reversal of the pairs gift giving habits. Molly had given her the usual gift of a sweater and fudge, while Lily and James gave her several memories of the first fifteen months of her life. Severus and Sirius had bought her a pensive for all the memories that they knew she would end up watching. Remus had commissioned a trunk like Mad-Eye's for her earlier in the year. From the rest of Gryffindor and those who knew her but didn't know what to get her, she got vouchers for various stores.

Kisuke had given her an invention that she adored, it was her own Denreishinki, which looked exactly like a cell phone but it could detect the prescence of hollows and allowed communication between the living world and the Seireitei.

Neville had gotten a book on caring for rare plants from Hermione, while Ron gave him a voucher for a plant nursery in Hogsmeade. James and Sirius had given him several photo's of his parents days at Hogwarts. While Lily and Severus had brewed him several potions that would help him care for the seeds that he got from Kushina last night. Remus had given him a book that had no words on the cover but on the first page inside was the words 'tips for wooing the woman of your dreams,' the author of the book left it unsigned. Kisuke had given him cutting of several plants that the fourth division uses in their medicines.

Ron received his usual gift from his mother, Hermione had given him a broomcare kit exactly like she'd given Kushina for her thirteenth birthday. Kushina had given him his own set of keeper gear while Ginny gave him an autographed picture of the Chuddley Cannon team. Rukia gave him a photo of his deceased grandfather who had taught him how to play chess, he was grinning up at Ron from beside Rukia. She had wrote on the back of the photo, 'I'd thought you'd like this more than a sketch of him. Love, Rukia.' James had to think long and hard about what to get the boy who was his daughter's only male best friend, and after he heard how much of a Chuddley Cannons fan he was, James made a decision. He made Ron a partner in the ownership of the Cannons, James' grandfather had been a huge fan of them however James never cared for them.

Remus teamed up with Lily and Sirius to give him a book on tips for Keepers, it had tips from several previous players at Hogwarts. Rabastan Lestrange sent them a few tips, while Frank had also gave them some, Remus had been backup Keeper for the Gryffindors. While Alice had been a beater, however Nymphadora had played Keeper until her Sixth year which had been the trio's first year. Severus had given him a book on muggle chess masters while Neville had given him a voucher for Honeyduke's.

Hermione had received a set of drawing and photos' of Yachiru and Kenpachi in the Seireitei from Yachiru. Ikkaku had given her three jars of the salve he kept in Hozukimaru's hilt while Yumichika had given her a book on hair care tips for bushy hair. Ginny and Luna had pooled their money to buy her a set of matching necklace and earrings. Neville had gotten her a book on wizarding myths while Ron and Kushina had chipped in to get her something she'd wanted since her third year, a Library trunk. A library trunk could hold up to twenty thousand books before it even weighed twenty pounds and every ten thousand more books would only make it weigh ten pounds heavier. In other words it was perfect for Hermione, she had gotten the usual gift from Molly and Kisuke got her several copies of some of the scrolls from the Daireishokairo or the Great Library of the Seireitei.

Kenpachi had been the odd one in the fact that he got her a book on the language of flowers, her favorite scented bubble bath and a bouquet of flowers. The bouquet contained, there was Snapdragons with Aster wrapped around them, while Gladiolus was entwined with Heather. The Honeysuckle and Blue Salvia was wrapped up in Jonquil, Tulips were entwined around them and interspersed in the bouquet was Chrysanthemums, Aloe, and Magnolia's.

She looked up the meanings of the flowers and found that Snapdragons meant desire while Aster meant patience, so the Aster wrapped around the Snapdragons probably was meant to mean, 'I desire you but I'm patient.' Gladiolus meant Strength of Character while Heather meant Admiration, so that meant something along the lines of, 'I admire your strength of character.' Honeysuckle meant Devoted Affection while Blue Salvia meant I Think of You, Jonquil meant I desire a return of affection. So the three together was probably meant to mean, 'I think of you with devoted affection. Will you return my affection?' Chrysanthemum meant Fidelity while the Yellow and Red Tulips meant Declaration of Love, and finally the Aloe meant Wisdom and Integrity.

Hermione swayed a bit before she carefully set the bouquet into a vase that James transfigured out of wrapping paper. Before she said, "let's go talk in the kitchen Kenpachi." A very nervous Kenpachi followed Hermione into the kitchen where she shooed Kreacher out of and closed the door firmly.

Kushina stared after her friend and said, "huh. She didn't take that like I expected then again I never expected Hermione to say, 'but there's no wood!' either." Ron snickered at the memory of Hermione forgetting she was a witch and could light a fire with a mere wave of her wand.

Kushina shrugged then pounced on the twins and said, "open your presents!"

Fred and George laughed but did as she said; most of everyone got them joint gifts, Kushina had given them another donation of money for their joke shop while Ron and Hermione had gotten them muggle pranking supplies. Ginny ended up giving them several books on pranking the muggle way, while Neville gave them some plant materials that they used in some of the potions in their pranking items. Lily had written several tips and tricks for pranking in the muggle world with magical methods, Alice had helped her with it. Frank on the other hand had slipped them a deed to a building for their future shop. But what had made the twins swoon and faint were three books, each one a pranking journal written and signed by a Marauder.

Remus, James and Sirius looked down at the twins and Remus asked, "what's wrong?"

Fred looked up at him and said dazedly, "wrong? There's nothing wrong! But how did the three of you come across these journals? Did you know the Marauders?" George looked up eagerly at the trio of men.

The three loyal Marauders looked at one another and James asked, "why do you want to know?"

The twins chorused, "because they're our idols!"

James hummed and said, "well I'm sure the Marauders never thought that they'd be held as idols. What do you think Padfoot?"

Sirius looked up from beside Severus and said, "true I certainly didn't think so, Prongs old boy. What about you Moony?" With that he looked over at Remus pretending not to see the ever widening eyes of Fred and George.

Remus chuckled and said, "well back when we were in school I didn't but after I taught for a year. Yes, I knew."

Fred and George gaped at them and exclaimed while throwing themselves on the ground at the marauders feet, "we're not worthy! We're not worthy!"

It took over thirty minutes to get the twins to stop worshiping at the feet of Padfoot, Moony and Prongs. Once they figured out that Kushina had conned the Marauders into this prank they threw themselves at her feet repeating the same gesture they had at the Marauders feet. It took them over twenty minutes to get them to stop this time by the time they were through with worshiping at her feet, Kenpachi and Hermione stepped back into the living room. Kenpachi had his arm around Hermione's waist and both were wearing smiles they couldn't contain.

When Hermione saw the twins at Kushina's feet she said, "they found out who the Marauders are didn't they?"

Kushina nodded at her, before she imperiously gestured for the adults to open their presents now.

Arthur opened his presents and gasped, Kushina had gifted him several how to books for dummies, while Hermione had got him several Do it yourself handbooks. Ron had decided to get his father some muggle toys to play around with, the twins and Ginny had done the same, Molly had groaned in despair. She then saw what the rest of the adults got him, Sirius had gotten him a set of the Muggle studies books, James had made a deposit into the Weasley family account at Gringotts. Remus had got the way of his daughter and her friends and had gotten him some muggle items.

Kushina had gotten Molly several skeins of yarn in various colors, she had bought them while they were on clearance so she was able to buy a large amount for a small amount of money. Molly exclaimed over the types of colors Kushina had picked out for her. Ron had bought some pattern books for both knitting and crocheting. Hermione had found an old-fashioned sewing machine that ran off a foot pedal. Lily had decided to get her a loom so she could make her own fabrics, Sirius on the other hand gave her a steady supply of food since she loved cooking and made sure that she would have a standing delivery of certain good via Kreacher. Severus had brewed several complex potions for her house, potions he knew she didn't really have time to brew anymore and were expensive to get from an apocathary.

The trio had gotten together and gave both Alice and Frank memories of their years at Hogwarts, all of them starring Neville. They of course left out certain parts of those years, like the giant three headed dog and the end of the year stunt by the trio. Remus had also given the pair memories starring Neville, except these only concerned his third year and only really of his defense class. James had gifted the pair with new wand holsters, his excuse was if they were going back to being Aurors or even just training Aurors then they would need good wand holsters.

Severus and Lily had brewed them all the potions they would need if they did decided to re-enter the Aurors. Sirius gave them a card stating that if they ever needed a day to themselves or a weekend to themselves he'd take their kid off of their hands. Molly had given her usual gift of a sweater and fudge to the pair.

Remus and James got a matching set of coupon books, when they opened the books up and glanced through the books they both blushed bright red. Remus blushed even redder when he looked up and saw his daughter smirking at him. James blushed but mouthed 'thanks,' to his daughter. The pair received another joint gift from Severus and Sirius, who offered to take Kushina or any other future children off their hands for a weekend or two. (Not that Kushina need to be babysat at her age but it was their excuse for keeping their goddaughter for a few days.)

Lily had given Remus a voucher for Honeyduke's, while Kisuke had given him and James several vials of memories from Kushina's childhood.

Lily had gotten James a subscription to Transfiguration Monthly, while the trio had given the two men memories of the trio's years at Hogwarts, (minus the really dangerous stuff like the three headed dog, and marching into Aragog's nest) but stuff like her Quidditch matches. And when Astoria helped them break into the Slytherin common room to prank Malfoy in fourth year. Ron of course included how she got the entire school to join her in pranking the shiny toothed slime-ball, other wise known as Gilderoy Lockhart.

Lily had received the same give from Ron and Hermione that they had given James and Remus, while James had gotten her a subscription for Charms monthly while Severus had gotten her the Potions Quarterly journal. Sirius had gifted her with a set of blank books that she could write down the charms she invented along with any potions she tweaked or invented. Kushina had smirked when she opened the present she got her, Lily gaped in shock over the rare potion ingredients that her goddaughter had gotten her. Neville on the other hand had given her several plants used often in potions.

Neville had given Sirius enough plants and seeds to start a small garden in the back courtyard of Grimmauld Place. James had given his best friend several blank books to write in, either his prank ideas, transfiguration ideas or those darn ancient runes that he loved so much. Lily ended up giving him a subscription to a motorcycle magazine, Sirius loved it, however Sirius had to hold off on riding a bike until his pregnancy was through. So Hagrid finally giving him back his bike meant that the first ride of the restored bike would have to wait. Kushina had Kensei restore the bike while Remus had recast the spells on the bike. Ron and Hermione had given him the same gift that Lily, James and Remus got, several vials of the trios years at Hogwarts.

Sirius laughed over what the trio had done to Draco in their fourth year, he had watched it in Kushina's pensive and when he found out that Kushina had managed to unite the four houses in the dislike of Dazzle Gums as he called Lockhart, he laughed until he was out of breath. Kisuke gave him two presents, one was a book called, 'what to expect when you're expecting.' The other was a series of letter from his younger siblings from his life as Kaien Shiba, Ganju and Kukaku. Alice and Frank had bought him several Ancient Rune books that had been published after he'd be thrown in Azkaban.

Neville had nervously given him the same gift of plants that he'd given Lily, Kushina had done the same except without the nervousness, Sirius had given him the same gift that he'd given Lily, a set of blank books to write in, one of the first things that Severus wrote in it was last night's date and the fact that he'd found out that Sirius was carrying his child.

James had decided as a joke to give him and Sirius a note stating that if the pair ever had kids he'd take the kids off the pairs hands for a weekend or two. Severus smirked up at James and said, "thanks, James. We might take you up on that in about eleven months."

James gaped at the pair and pointed at them before he asked, "which one of you is pregnant?"

Sirius raised his hand and said wryly, "me."

James groaned but he shot a glaring look at his daughter after she said, "cheer up Dad. At least you're not pregnant, yet!" James snarled then chased after his daughter who lead him on a merry chase around the house.

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The Slytherin members dropped by along with Lee, Kushina made sure that Theodore and Lee got caught under the same mistletoe and had them kiss to get out from under it. She'd done the same to any pair caught under it. Including her parents and godparents, when Lily got caught under the mistletoe with Coyote she insisted on them kissing. Coyote finally kissed Lily just to make Kushina shut up, Lily ended up walking around in a daze for thirty minutes. All of the mistletoe was charmed to only let out a pair after they had kissed to it's satisfaction. For some that was a mere kiss on the cheek for others it was a full blown French kiss.

By the time that the Kurosaki family had left, Coyote and Lily had gotten to know one another and had agreed to send letters. Lily had found out that Coyote would be at the school next year and had agreed to show him around the castle when he got there. Even Lilynette seemed a bit taken with the red haired woman, and had actually giggled and played with the kids outside in the snow.


	26. Chapter 25: Of Banishment and Wounds

Chapter Twenty-Five: Banishment and Wounds

Meanwhile during the winter holidays, Hagrid came across a disturbing sight in the Forbidden Forest, the centaur herd had surrounded a single centaur, Firenze. He overheard as Bane said, "if you wish to defend the Humans then go live among them!" Bane then kicked at Firenze's side with his hind hooves, Firenze couldn't dodge the attack since he was surrounded by the others, so with a sickening crack the hooves connected with his rib cage.

Hagrid winced, he knew just how bad broken ribs hurt and that blow had definitely broken a few ribs. He frowned to himself, if the centaurs were exiling Firenze then why was he surrounded by them. He finally had enough and boomed out, "hey now, what's going on here?"

The herd looked up and Bane said contemptuously, "none of your concern, Human."

Hagrid frowned and said, "I may not know much about centaur herds but I thought you wouldn' be gangin' up on one of your own."

Bane sneered and said, "he's not one of us anymore."

Hagrid marched into the middle and said, "if he ain' one of you anymore than why don' you leave him here." Hagrid had been carrying his crossbow, just in case of running into a beast that he couldn't persuade to leave him alone.

Bane was about to attack Hagrid for the presumption of being able to tell him what to do, when one of the others whispered into his ear, "better let the traitor go Bane. We do not want trouble from the Headmaster of Hogwarts after all he controls the wards here."

Bane snorted and stomped his front hooves before he said, "take the traitor then. He is no longer welcome in the Forest." With that Bane and the other turned and left the half giant and wounded outcast centaur in the clearing.

Hagrid steadied Firenze and asked, "are yeh alright?"

Firenze sighed and said, "no, but I will be eventually. I will have to find another herd to join, that is if any herd would have me." He then looked up at Hagrid and said, "you really shouldn't have defended me, no you won't be welcome very far in the Forest now."

Hagrid snorted and patted Firenze on his human shoulder, "don' yeh worry none. I'm used to handling difficult beings. Now let's get yeh back to me cabin and fix some of those wounds of yer's."

Firenze nodded wearily and followed Hagrid out of the Forest, he looked sadly back a few times to the clearing, he knew that he would never be accepted back into the herd again. The only way they would take him back was if Bane was dead and even then he rather doubted they would. Besides he would have to renounce what he declared and he would never say that he was wrong about needing to help the wizard win against Voldemort.

Hagrid was bustling around his hut, gathering bandages and medicine for Firenze's wounds when Professor Dumbledore dropped by to chat. He was rather surprised to find a wounded centaur being cared for by his groundskeeper and said, "hello Firenze. What brings you out of the Forest?"

The young male centaur looked down and said, "I've been banished from the herd."

Hagrid who had been cleaning a few of the cuts caused by the hooves of the other centaurs snorted, "they were literally kicking him out when I came across them." He could tell that Firenze was going to object so he glared at the centaur and said, "don't argue with me Firenze. They banished you they didn't need to kick you in order to get you to leave. They had you surrounded, if I hadn't of come along they probably would have killed you."

Firenze closed his mouth that he had opened to defend the herd, he had no defense against Hagrid's damning words, he knew that Bane would have struck a blow that would have slowly killed him. And the others wouldn't have stopped him either…

Albus hummed and said, "what will you do now, Firenze? The others will not let you return."

Firenze sighed and said, "I do not know what I can do. The Forbidden Forest herd is one of the few centaur herds that I know of. And none of the other herds will let me in when they hear why I was kicked out of my old herd."

Albus frowned and asked, "why did they kick you out?"

Hagrid said grumpily, "I have no clue but they kept referring to him as a traitor."

Firenze sighed gustily, "I told them that we should be working with wizards to stop the rise of Voldemort. They took offense that I would dare suggest working with humans, Bane said that it was the humans problem and to let them solve it." Firenze shook his head ruefully, "Bane refuses to see that if Voldemort wins, we will all lose. He will not leave us alone if we stay out of the conflict and if we join him we will be the first to go. What use will he have for stargazing centaurs." Firenze said the last sentence sarcastically.

Hagrid snorted and said, "you've been spending too much time around Professor Snape, Firenze."

Albus thought for a few minutes, "Firenze I have a proposal for you."

Firenze looked at the Headmaster before he asked curiously, "what is this proposal?" Hagrid also looked up at the headmaster curiously.

Albus smiled and his blue eyes twinkled mischievously, "simple my dear friends. How would you like to teach the students how to divine the meaning behind the stars movements?"

Firenze blinked in shock, "me? Teach the foals of your herd? You would allow this?" He asked in disbelief.

Albus chuckled before he said, "part of the rules of the Hogwart's charter state that a non human may be employed at Hogwarts so long as the students aren't threatened by the prescence of said non human. In other words, yes Firenze, I would allow you to teach and the parents cannot stop me from hiring you." Albus had sat down at Hagrid's table and was drinking a cup of tea as he had spoke to the pair.

Albus took a few sips of tea then said, "actually, I do believe if you take the job that the first five classes are mandatory for all divination students after that they must choose between your class and Professor Trelawney's."

Hagrid finished bandaging Firenze ribs and was putting away the unused bandages and ointment when he heard that, he snorted and commented, "I know which one a certain duo of a certain trio will be taking."

Albus chuckled and said, "indeed Hagrid. Firenze I will leave you to think upon it, I do not need an answer right away. Allow your injuries to mend first before giving me your answer."

Firenze shuffled his hooves before he nodded in agreement, "very well headmaster." Firenze then turned to Hagrid and asked, "is there somewhere I can bed down? I can no longer bed down in the Forest, since I am unwelcome there, if I return they will kill me."

Albus hummed and commented, "you may bed down wherever you feel comfortable. If you wish I can have the house elves transform an area to be more comfortable for you to sleep in."

Firenze looked at him thoughtfully before he commented, "that would be nice. Thank you headmaster."

Three days after Christmas, Kushina and Kisuke left for the Seireitei, Kisuke was still in charge of the twelfth division. Although Shinji was relieved of his position as temporary captain of the third division, Gin Ichimaru had been reinstated as Captain after it was discovered he had been spying on Aizen as per the King's orders. Ikkaku Madarame had been promoted to Captain of the Fifth division since Renji Abari had declined the position, citing that as a parole officer he would be unable to relive the current Captain of their duties. "Besides," he remarked, "I'm more comfortable as the Lieutenant of the Sixth division."

Rukia had laughed at him, but she had then been offered the position of Lieutenant of the Thirteenth division, she had stared at the captains in shock. She had turned disbelieving eyes onto her adopted brother who merely remarked, "you have become strong enough to stand on your own two feet. Besides, you did make the correct decision to grant Ichigo Kurosaki your powers, without him we would have never realized until too late what Aizen was up to. Nor would we have won the war without great losses to our own forces, according to Gin Ichimaru, Ichigo saved his life from one of Aizen's blows."

He then looked fondly down at her and stated, "although I wish to keep you safe, the decision is yours to make."

Rukia looked down at her feet before she looked up with resolve glowing in her eyes and said, "I accept the position of Lieutenant of the Thirteenth division. I will do my best not to let you down." With that she gave a bow and after she received her Lieutenant badge left for the living world.

Ichigo had been offered the position of the Lieutenant of the Fifth division, the only reason they hadn't offered him the captain position was because he was still part of the living world and it would be unreasonable to allow a captain to stay in the living world. But a lieutenant could be posted to the living world for a few years without any true trouble. Byakuya had asked and gained permission to allow Ichigo and their child to stay in the living world as well as for him to be able to commute back and forth between the two worlds. The head captain had granted his request, Byakuya could use his personal Senkaimon to go back and forth without his permission anyway, so why bother arguing about it.

Ichigo had accepted the position and warned Ikkaku that just because he was Ichigo's captain didn't mean he wasn't going to argue with Ikkaku. Ikkaku had laughed but said, "I wouldn't want you to anyway. It's more fun if you argue with me," he had given Ichigo a grin and commented, "besides, if you didn't argue with me. Who would I spar with?"

Kushina had spent the first two days catching up with her cousin, the Visoreds and Yoruichi. During one of her practices in the morning several of division nine had come to watch and stared in shock when she breathed a fireball from her mouth. Their mouths gaped when she had formed a dragon made of water and made it curl around her in defense. Of course what was shocking them the most was the fact that she was standing on one of the walls, sideways. Ichigo snorted and yelled, "you're not in my inner world Kushina! So what in the heck are you doing standing sideways on the wall?"

Kushina looked at her cousin and commented, "simple Ichigo. I'm practicing my jutsus and my climbing skills." She put a mock concentrating face on and said solemnly, "it takes great skill to climb a wall without the use of your hands." He snorted in amusement but left her to her practice and the shinigami to their gaping and shocked muttering.

After three days in the Seireitei both Kushina and Kisuke left for the living world where Kushina wanted to spend time with her other two cousins, the rest of the Visoreds and Ichigo's friends. Kisuke took her out to one of the winter festivals and as they walked around Kushina was reminded about the festivals in Konoha. Minato had always played some of the games and won prizes for Kushina, he'd also pay for some of the orphans to play a game or two.

Kushina spotted the Prewett twins at the festival and snickered over the outfits they were wearing, as she watched the pair she noticed they were following a white haired man around, the man appeared to be ignoring the twins tailing him. Uryu came up beside her and said, "Ryuken has not been able to get those twins to stop pursuing him so he's taken to ignoring them."

Kushina glanced over at the teenage Quincy and asked, "isn't Ryuken your father?"

Uryu nodded before Grimmjow popped up beside them and offered a Dango stick to Uryu. Uryu blinked a bit in puzzlement before he accepted it while murmuring, "thank you Grimmjow."

Grimmjow smiled at him before he scampered off toward the games, as he ate the Dango, Uryu commented, "he's been doing that lately." After Kushina glanced at him curiously, he elaborated, "bring me something to eat before he runs off to do something else."

Kushina snorted and said, "he evolved from a panther hollow right?" After Uryu nodded, she laughed softly before she asked, "you've never owned a cat have you?" He shook his head, she smiled at him, "he's basically acting like a cat would with an owner it adores." She clapped on the shoulder and commented before walking off to find her fiancé, "in other words he likes you!"

Uryu gaped at her in shock before turning wide eyes toward the gleeful hollow who was listening intently to an operator of one of the games that tested a persons strength. _'Okay Uryu, there is nothing wrong with a hollow liking you. After all, if he likes me he's less likely to eat me.'_ As he thought that Grimmjow turned to look at him and beamed at him, Uryu smiled fondly at the hollow without thinking.

On the twelfth of January, Kushina and the others boarded the Hogwarts express for the next term at Hogwarts. Meanwhile at Hogwarts, Firenze was speaking to the headmaster about what he would be teaching if he accepted the position of Divination professor.

Albus sucked on a lemon sherbet while he thought about what Firenze could teach, "well, I was thinking you could teach them what the stars mean to the Centaurs. As well as how to somewhat divine what the particular arrangement means. After that you can teach them whatever you feel comfortable teaching them. Where would you like your classroom to be?"

Firenze tapped his left front hoof on the ground before he said, "on the ground floor if possible, since I would be unable to climb the stairs. It would have to have a similar ceiling as the Great Hall, other than that could you make it seem as if it was in a forest?"

Albus nodded, "of course, whatever makes you comfortable while you're teaching. The children will be returning to the school tonight, I will introduce you then." Firenze nodded before he turned to walk back to Hagrid's hut to allow him to change the bandages around his human torso.

On the train several students dropped by to see Kushina to ask when the next Shinigami Arts class or S.A.C. as the students started calling it was going to be held. She laughed and said, "when the next term starts of course." She then shooed them out of the carriage to go spread the news around.

Malfoy seemed to be leaving them alone this trip though Blaise, Daphne, Astoria and Theo dropped by to visit for a while. Astoria rolled her eyes and said, "he's at it again. I swear if he asks me one more time if I want to go to Hogsmeade on a date with him, he's going to get it."

Kushina looked up from her new Icha Icha novel and asked, "Malfoy?"

Theodore snorted and muttered, "who else would be asking her to the point she's ready to hex him."

Ron snorted and said, "go ahead. I'm sure it helped Hermione when she slapped him in third year."

The four Slytherins looked up at Hermione and chorused, "slapped him?"

Hermione blushed and nodded, "he made me mad at him to the point I just lost it and slapped him."

Kushina snickered and said wickedly, "she's got a good right hook."

The rest of the ride was spent quietly, though when Lee and the twins came to check on the trio and the others, Theodore blushed a bright red and kept his head down. Especially since Lee dropped down in the seat next to him and started talking about Ancient Runes, it turned out that both were taking that subject. After a few minutes of them talking, Theo relaxed and was able to actually discuss several theory's on the Runes that the fifth years were studying.

By the time the Hogwarts express pulled into Hogsmeade station the pair were quite relaxed around each other, Theo ended up sharing a carriage with Lee and the twins up to Hogwarts. The trio shared their carriage with Luna and Ginny. Astoria shared a carriage with her sister, Blaise and Neville.

As the students settled into their seats they noticed that a place was made but there was no chair at the spot. They muttered curiously amongst themselves before the headmaster stood and the Hall fell silent. He beamed down at them and said, "I hope you all had an enjoyable winter break. I'm sure that several of you have noticed an empty place at the Staff Table and are wondering who will be sitting there. It has recently come to my attention that our dear Professor Trelawney hasn't been teachings the divination of the stars to you correctly. So I've asked someone who knows how to divine the stars to teach, after much debate he's accepted the post."

Albus looked over his glasses at the students and commented, "the first five classes with him are mandatory for all divination students. After those classes are through you may choose between the two professors or continue with both." Several students sighed in relief, they didn't truly like Professor Trelawney's way of teaching. So the option to drop her class in favor of a new professor seemed like a godsend.

Albus smiled at the sighs of relief from several of the students before he announced, "may I introduce the new secondary Divination professor, Professor Firenze." Kushina's head shot up in shock, she then turned to the Great Halls doors to see it swing open and allow a Centaur into the hall.

The students were in shock they had never seen a Centaur besides in their school books, Firenze nodded his head to the Headmaster and said, "good evening, Albus." He walked up to the Staff Table and stood at the empty setting next to Hagrid. Lily greeted the centaur kindly before turning back to Severus to discuss a potion she was experimenting with. James and Remus smiled at the Centaur who nodded in greeting to the marauders, he remembered them from tales that Hagrid had told him as a foal. He had always been rather curious about humans, and whenever Hagrid entered the forest he would always been one step behind Hagrid asking questions. Hagrid always answered the best he could, and told him stories about the human foals who had already left the school.

After dinner the students went to their common room and on the way discussed what the new divination professors class would be like. Kushina commented to her friends, "Firenze is quite nice, he actually explained something to me during our detention in the forest in First year."

The other Gryffindors turned and the twins chorused, "what do you mean detention in the Forest during your First year?"

Hermione, Neville and Kushina blinked then Hermione commented, "that's what our detention was after we were caught after hours outside the common room."

The twins looked at each other then growled, "and who sent you out into the forest at night?"

Neville shrugged and said, "professor McGonagall assigned the detention."

The twins looked up at each other than nodded resolutely, a certain kitty was going to be having pranks played on her for sending eleven year olds into the Forbidden Forest. Kushina noted the look but didn't say anything about it since Sirius had already yelled at Professor McGonagall for sending four children into the Forbidden forest after dark for being caught after curfew.

Remus on the other hand had refused to speak to her for a month, while when James and Lily found out, James had glared at her coldly and said, "never do that again." Lily on the other hand had decided to speak politely to her and didn't refer to her by name for as long as Remus ignored her.

Even Albus had been unhappy when he heard that she had sent the children into the forest, she couldn't even say that Hagrid hadn't told her what he'd be using the students to help him with. Hagrid had been expecting seventh years not first and the only reason he'd taken them was because Filch had been threatening them with a worse punishment. Better the students think he'd requested them rather than the Deputy headmistress sending them into the forest without a second thought.

After that the Gryffindor's arrived at their common room and settled in, Kushina went to her rooms, grabbing her sketch pad before she came back out into the common room and began drawing. She commented to the Weasley twins that she'd seen their Uncles during the holiday and that they had been pursuing a reluctant doctor. But the doctor's son was rather fond of their Uncles.

The twins looked up at her gleefully before they exclaimed, "so we might be having a step cousin?"

Kushina nodded while sketching Ryuken and the Prewett twins in her sketch book, "yeah, but I'll warn you. He likes pranks but he won't pull them, he's a bit like Percy but a little more loose than him. Right now he's being courted himself, but I don't think he realizes it yet."

Hermione looked over at her from the novel she borrowed from Kushina, it's lurid orange cover had caused quite a few odd glances but no one had asked what she was reading. Hermione asked, "who's courting him?"

Kushina snorted before turning the page in her book, "Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez, you know the person he's playing parole officer for as well as the person he's responsible for socializing."

Ron looked up from his chess game and said, "that was the blue haired man we met during the winter holiday right?"

"Yes Ron, we met him over Christmas." Kushina and Hermione chorused before turning the pages in their books in unison.

Ron snorted before he commented, "well that will make life interested for Uryu."

Kushina looked up at him and smirked before she said, "in the words of Hermione's favorite alien, 'indeed.'" Hermione playfully glared at Kushina before returning her attention to her book.

The rest of the common room looked at the trio strangely before resolutely ignoring them for their own sanity. It was an unspoken rule of Gryffindor, if the Golden Trio started acting strange the whole house was to ignore them because the insanity might be contagious. Admittedly every time the trio had done something crazy it was for the good of the school and it had won Gryffindor the House cup ever since the trio had begun school.

In the dungeons of Hogwarts Sirius was worshiping the porcelain goddess otherwise known as the toilet. Severus was rubbing his back, after Sirius had finished throwing up he handed him a glass of water. "Are you alright?" Severus asked his husband worriedly.

Sirius slowly drained the glass and said, "yeah, I think my stomach has calmed down now." He smiled wanly up at Severus and quipped, "I don't think our child likes fish."

Severus laughed lightly, he was glad that Sirius hadn't lost his sense of humor from all of the morning sickness he was experiencing. "When did Madam Pomfrey say that the morning sickness will stop?" He asked while helping Sirius to his feet, Sirius swayed slightly but soon was steady on his feet.

Sirius walked over to the bed and said, "hopefully by the end of the third month. She said that most pregnancies usually only had morning sickness lasting until then. But I could end up having it through out the pregnancy."

Severus leaned over his husband and ran his fingers through his bangs, "I wish I could give you something to ease it."

Sirius turned onto his side and looked up at Severus, "unfortunately, the only morning sickness prevention potions have ingredients that I'm allergic to." Sirius tugged Severus making him lie down beside him and said, "don't worry. I'll be alright, Poppy was right, the crackers and water seem to help, I can keep those down just fine."

Severus snorted before he got back up from the bed and prepared for bed, after he did so he slipped back into bed and pulled Sirius back toward him. He rested his hand over Sirius' which was over the slight swell of his stomach. He rubbed the area gently before he commented quietly, "I didn't think you'd be showing this soon."

Sirius huffed, "if it weren't for how skinny I am, I wouldn't be showing yet. Madam Pomfrey said that it shouldn't show much more than this until about the seventh to the eight month. I just hope this morning sickness stops soon so I can gain a bit more weight, Kushina's promised that as soon as it stops she'll make me whatever I want."

Severus muttered quietly, "lucky devil."

The pair talked quietly about what they might name the child if it was a girl or if it was a boy. They finally decided on a set of names before they fell asleep, Severus committed both of the names to his memory before he slipped into Morpheus's arms.

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The next day, Sirius was surprised to find that he slept through when he normally was up and praying to the porcelain goddess. He sighed in relief and wondered aloud, "maybe I'm finally past the morning sickness. Still better stay in our quarters today just to make sure, wouldn't want to be surprised after all."

Severus was already awake and preparing for next Monday when the next term would start. He looked over his shoulder to see Sirius walking out of their bedroom, he hummed a bit then commented, "I didn't hear you this morning."

Sirius grinned at him before he said, "that's cause I didn't need to wake up and bolt to the bathroom."

Severus raised his eyebrow sardonically, "really? Hopefully you won't have to make any quick runs to the bathroom to throw up." He said before snagging his husband by the waist and pulling him into his lap, Severus nuzzled at Sirius left temple.

Sirius chuckled, if he ever told anyone how much Severus changed in their quarters, how affectionate his husband became once they were alone, many would declare him insane. He said, "true, that's why I plan to stay inside for the next few days." As Severus gave an almost purring sound, much like he'd sometimes made in his animagus form, Sirius laughed and said, "if I told anyone how you act sometimes they'd never believe me. Heck if you acted like this outside our quarters over three quarters of the school would faint from shock. The rest either wouldn't believe or they already know about it."

Severus gave him a wicked smile before he commented, "maybe I will one day just to see the look on their faces." Severus watched as his husband looked down at him with a grin before he gave what had become his trademark barking laugh. Severus smiled, he was happy that his husband had finally started to shake off the effects of being in Azkaban, he was smiling, laughing and pulling pranks on people again. Sirius was finally beginning to act like Padfoot again instead of an insane mass murderer.

Kenpachi showed up on Saturday as usual for their weekly spar, the pair were alone in the Room of Requirement, so far their scores were seventeen to fourteen in Kushina's favor but the total of draws was seventeen.

As they left the room of Requirement Kushina muttered, "well that brings the total number of draws up to eighteen."

Kenpachi snorted then said, "if we were fighting for real, it'd be a bit pointless huh?"

Kushina nodded, "you're right, we're fairly evenly matched. I highly doubt we'd ever be fighting against each other for real anyway. Sparring is enough, what do you say we up the ante?" Kenpachi glanced at her curiously, asking wordlessly what she meant. She elaborated, "say whoever reaches a total of twenty five won matches first gets a prize. What would you want the prize to be?"

Kenpachi hummed before he said, "I don't know…" he scratched his head and offered, "a bottle of sake…maybe." He then glanced down at her and asked, "what about you, what do you want if you reach twenty five before me?"

Kushina hummed and said, "hmmm, five boxes of Pocky. I love that stuff, not as much as I love ramen but still high up on the list." Kenpachi nodded in agreement and made a mental note of what to get if she won twenty five spars before he did.

Yachiru had decided to stay at Grimmauld Place when Kenpachi had come to spar with Kushina, when the pair reached the steps leading to the lower levels of the school Kushina pulled out the Marauders map and activated it. She spotted Hermione in the library and said, "well, Hermione's in the library if you want to see her before you head back to Grimmauld place."

Due to his frequent visits to spar with Kushina and lately to court Hermione the students of Hogwarts had become immune to seeing the large and rough man in the school. Kenpachi strolled down the stairs toward the library while Kushina continued to the common room and her rooms. She had decided that she was going to take a long soak in the tub to get the soreness out of her muscles from when Kenpachi had slammed her against the wall. They had decided today to spar without their swords, just hand to hand combat, after all it wouldn't due to get rusty at fighting without a sword and need to fight without one.

Or as Kushina had put it, "it's the same principle as a condom, 'it's better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it.'"

Kenpachi had stared at her then asked, "what's a condom?"

Kushina had stared back at him then said, "ask Uncle Isshin." Kenpachi had shrugged and mentally filed the word away to ask someone later.

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The next day during lunch after Kushina's weekend morning spar with Kenpachi and subsequent draw for that day, Ron asked, "hey, Kushina?"

She hummed in response to let him know she was listening, most of her attention however was on her Ramen. She had taught the house elves how to make it during one of the morning she'd been woken up by odd dreams.

Hermione was eating Sheppard's pie while Ron's plate was full with his usual lunch fare, "what does ANBU stand for anyway? I mean all that you said about it in your dream diary was that they were '_an elite guard service named the ANBU,' _so what does ANBU stand for."

Hermione looked up from her food and the other tables listened in eagerly, especially those who took Divination as well. Kushina hummed but after she finished her mouthful of Ramen said, "ANBU stands for '**Ansatsu Senjutsu Tokushu Butai,'** literally translated it means 'Special Assassination and Tactical Squad,' the ANBU take orders from no one except the Kage of their village. They perform special highly ranked missions, such as assassinations and torture, ANBU usually work in teams but can sometimes work alone. The teams are formed to the requirements of the mission at hand in order to ensure maximum success. The Shinobi that make up the ANBU are hand-picked by their Kage; they're chosen for their individual abilities and special skills. Age, gender, background and previous rank bear no weight in the decision of the Hokage."

Kushina leaned back and said ruefully, "actually the last head of the ANBU was originally a Chuunin. She'd been chosen despite that to be an ANBU and rose to the rank via her absolute loyalty to the Kage of Konoha. He entrusted her with the position of his head guard, the Hokage's head guard is a position highly coveted and sought after by all ANBU. Members of the ANBU can return to their previous rank without punishment, ANBU wear masks in order to hide their identities."

She sighed then smirked at Ron, "their identity as an ANBU member is only to be known to their Kage and the village elders. However if an ANBU requests it they can have what is called a touchstone, this person is the only other person to know the identity of the ANBU and will sometimes be sent after an ANBU if they are injured during a mission. An ANBU will imprint all of their senses on their touchstone so that they won't attack them while the touchstone is patching them up from their last mission."

The students were gaping at Kushina, Ron and the others that shared Divination with Kushina were staring at her in shock. Kushina seemingly oblivious to the staring continued her explanation, "team leadership and hierarchy in the ANBU ranks are determined by merit and experience. The leaders of the teams are called the Buntaicho, or squad leaders, it is a position held in high regard. The masks that the ANBU wear are stylized like animal faces, the face determines their ANBU name, if the mask is that of a bear then their ANBU codename is Bear. The same if it's a weasel or a fox or a tiger, the ANBU takes the name of their mask as their own, the Kage chooses the mask based on the personality of the ANBU member."

She chuckled ruefully before she commented, "the Fourth Hokage's personal ANBU guard had the mask of a dragon and had taken the name Ryuu. When asked why he'd chosen that mask for her he said, 'because she's as fierce as a mother dragon protecting her eggs. Besides, like a dragon, you do not want her angry at you.' He was right, Ryuu was fiercely defensive of those she considered hers to protect, the Hokage was one of her few friends and as such she fiercely defended him from all attackers. Not that he actually needed her protection…"

She then looked up from her meal to find the entire Hall staring at her in shock, she asked almost defensively, "what?"

Dean said, "so the ANBU are trained in Assassination and torture…And you still played that prank on them in your dream!"

Kushina nodded before she commented, "yeah, why not? They needed to loosen up, they were a bunch of prudes who couldn't take a joke anyway." With that she got up from her seat and sauntered out of the Hall, she called over her shoulder, "I'm going to go train some more."

After she left mutters broke out all over the Hall, and those of the Staff who had been there when she had explained about her past life knew just how she knew all of this information. Here was someone who actually lived in the Elemental countries and could tell them how the people in those countries worked and lived. After James and Lily had been rescued from the prison house, Kushina had explained the fact to them as well, when the Prewett twins had heard that she'd played pranks on her village continuously they had bowed and said, "you are truly a Gryffindor little one." She had asked which house they'd been in while at Hogwarts, the Weasley kids listened in and were shocked when Fabian and Gideon had chorus, "Slytherin!"

Kushina had wandered off on her own, and had decided against going to the Room of Requirement, she decided instead to go train near the lake. She had to practice her water walking anyway, she'd already gotten her wall-walking and tree-walking back up to snuff so she had to get the last one back up to her old standard. Much like how Kakashi's father had been referred to as Konoha's White Fang, Kushina had been referred to by Konoha's enemies as Konoha's Crimson Blade. The chakra of the Kyuubi had influenced her own to the point that her chakra had turned crimson when she manipulated it with a chakra absorbing weapon.

Minato had gifted her with a set of blades after she made Chuunin rank, both blades were able to absorb and manipulate her chakra. When she reached the rank of ANBU she'd put away her twin blades unless she was in regular uniform, she hadn't wanted the enemies of Konoha to realize that Ryuu was the Crimson Blade. In all bingo books beside both of her profiles was the order to not just flee on sight but to avoid at all costs, including abandonment of the mission if either of them was spotted. And since none of the other countries realized that Kushina the Crimson Blade and Ryuu, the Red Dragon were one and the same they had another order, if both were spotted in the same area and engaged you in a fight, commit suicide rather than fight them.

Kushina had snorted when she'd seen the order and said to Minato while she leaned on his desk, "not very bright are they?"

She remembered Minato's laugh clearly, she remembered the way his blue eyes had sparkled with laughter and delight. Those below the Hokage tower had heard their Kage laughing and although wondering what had caused it, they were happy to hear it. She had always loved making her husband laugh, it had always made his eyes light up and the worry disappear from his face. So she always tried to lighten his spirits anyway she could, and it always worked, she'd play a prank or make a lighthearted joke in a serious situation and it would make him happy if only briefly.

As she remembered she was going through the motions of water walking, her version of training for water walking was different, unlike others who were just happy to be able to stand on the water. She had always trained her body to the highest extent, she could not only walk on the water she could roll, jump, leap and in one instance actually danced with Minato on one of the lakes of Konoha.

While Kushina was training at Hogwarts, Naruto had found her old blades and held them up, he saw the note hidden inside the box and read it.

Dear whomever that has found my swords,

My name is Kushina Uzumaki, and I am known as the Crimson Blade of Konoha. If you are reading this than I have either died or have been rendered unable to return to here. These swords can channel and control chakra, if my son is alive please deliver these to him as they are a family heirloom, my sons name is Naruto. If my son is not alive and did not leave behind a child or grandchildren then please keep them for yourself, but the blades will not be Red for you.

Yours sincerely,

The Crimson Blade of Konoha

Kushina Uzumaki

Shinobi of Chuunin Rank

Naruto stared down at the blades and note in shock, his mother wrote this, he bit his lower lip and decided to ask the Cheetahs if this Kushina Uzumaki was his mother. He bit his thumb and swiped the blood across the seal hidden on his upper arm and summoned a cheetah.

Etsuyo appeared in front of him and asked, "what do you need Naruto?"

He looked down at her and asked, "did you know my mother?"

Etsuyo nodded, "yes, she was a great fighter." The female cheetah laughed and said, "the enemies of Konoha called her 'The Crimson Blade,' your father had gifted her with a set of swords when she reached the rank of Chuunin. She swore that she would teach you how to use them." She cocked her head to the side and asked curiously, "why did you ask?"

Naruto showed her the letter and the swords, Etsuyo purred and said, "then they are yours now. Not only did you find them but they belonged to your mother once, she'd want you to have them."

Naruto looked down at the two swords and the letter before he asked tentatively, "my mom wanted me, than?"

Etsuyo snarled and growled out, "of course she wanted you. When she had received the news that she was pregnant she raced to her friends and your father to tell them the news. Your father fainted at first but was very happy, he was delighted to have a son, the only reason you do not carry his name is for your own safety. Once you've achieve the rank of Chuunin, the boss is going to tell you what your fathers name is."

Naruto blinked and asked in shock, "so if I want to know who my father is I just need to reach Chuunin rank?"

Etsuyo nodded and said, "yes, your father asked that we tell you. If you can reach Chuunin then you can protect yourself from your fathers enemies. Although if word gets out about who your mother was they'd probably run far away first." Etsuyo snickered at the memory of how frightened the other countries had been of her summoner.


	27. Chapter 26: Of Stars and Threats

Chapter Twenty-Six: Of Stars and Threats

On January fifteenth the next school term started and students trudged to their classes, however the divination students had the secondary divination class to look forward to. At breakfast Lavender and Parvati smirked at Hermione before Parvati asked, "I bet you wish you hadn't given up Divination now, don't you, Hermione?"

Hermione swallowed her mouthful and said indifferently, "not really," before she pushed her plate away and started reading the paper. "I've never really liked horses, although I will admit that Firenze is nice, the rest of the centaurs are a bore."

"He's not a horse, he's a centaur!" Lavender said sounding shocked.

"A gorgeous centaur…" Parvati sighed dreamily.

Ron and Kushina looked at each other slightly disgusted, centaurs didn't really like humans too much, besides, technically Firenze was only about five years old. Although fully grown by centaur standards that was still too much like robbing the cradle to the pair. He'd been born shortly before Hermione had turned eleven, he was a good nine to ten years younger than the sighing girls.

Hermione sneered in disdain before she snorted and said coolly, "either way, he's still got four legs to your two." She then pursued the columns and said, "anyway, I thought you two worshiped Professor Trelawney?"

Both girls huffed and ignored Hermione after that, Kushina smirked at her while Ron gave her a thumbs up.

After breakfast Hermione departed for her Arithmancy class while the Gryffindors and the Ravenclaws left the Great Hall to make their way to Divination.

One of the Ravenclaws asked as they passed the marble staircase, "aren't we going up to the North Tower?" He looked puzzled as he asked that.

Kushina shot him a contemptuous look, "honestly, Firenze is a centaur. How do you expect him to climb the ladder?"

Ron snorted and said, "we're in classroom eleven for Firenze's divination lessons. It was on the notice-board yesterday."

Classroom eleven was on the ground floor along the corridor leading off the Entrance Hall, Kushina remembered using it for practicing before the Third task last year. Professor McGonagall kept walking in on the trio practicing their spells in empty classrooms just like it. Like all of the other classrooms that weren't used often it had the slightly neglected feeling of a cupboard or storeroom.

When she entered it right after Ron, she found herself in the middle of a forest clearing. She blinked a bit in shock but then shrugged it off, of course Professor Dumbledore would make it to where Firenze would be comfortable. Most of the class muttered, "what the…?"

The classroom floor had become springy moss and the trees were growing out of it; their leafy branches fanned across the ceiling and windows, so the room was full of slanting shafts of soft, dappled green light. The students who had already arrived were sitting on the earthy floor with their backs resting against tree trunks or boulders. They had their arms wrapped around their knees or folded tightly across their chests, and were looking rather nervous. In the middle of the clearing, where there was no trees, stood Firenze.

Firenze looked up at Kushina and said, "Kushina Potter-Lupin," he held out his hand when she entered.

Kushina smiled at the centaur who she had gotten to know while helping Hagrid look for potion ingredients. She ignored his hand and walked up to him and gave him a hug, "I'm glad to see you are well, Firenze. It's good to see you," the centaur blinked down at her with astonishingly blue eyes and to the shock of the students gave her a soft smile.

He hugged her back lightly before he said, "it is good to see you again as well, little emerald." He stomped his right hind hoof and said, "although it was foretold that we would meet again."

As Kushina pulled back from the hug she noticed a shadow of a hoof-shaped bruise on his chest and her eyes narrowed, she traced the bruise and snarled, "what is this? Who did this?" She glared up at the white-blond centaur who actually looked a little nervous.

Firenze froze for a moment then shook his head and said, "nothing, little emerald. Nothing and no one to be concerned about anymore."

She narrowed her gaze and said quietly, "we will be discussing this later, Firenze." She then turned to join the rest of the class on the ground. She saw that they were looking at her with awe, apparently deeply impressed that she was on speaking terms with Firenze, whom they apparently found intimidating.

When the door was closed and the last student had sat down on a tree stump beside the wastepaper basket, Firenze gestured around the room. "Professor Dumbledore has kindly arranged this classroom for us," said Firenze, when everyone had settled down, "in imitation of my natural habitat. I would have preferred to teach you in the Forbidden Forest, which was - until December twenty-ninth - my home… but that is no longer possible."

"Please - er - sir -" Parvati said breathlessly, raising her hand, "why not? We've been in the Forest before with Hagrid, we're not frightened."

"It is not a question of your bravery," Firenze said, "but of my position, I cannot return to the Forest without risking death. My herd has banished me."

Kushina narrowed her eyes in thought, then it dawned on her the reason for both the hoof-print and Firenze's words earlier. He considered the bruise nothing because there was nothing anyone could do about his banishment.

"Herd?" Lavender said in a confused voice, and Kushina knew she was thinking of cows and horses. "What.. Oh!" Comprehension dawned on her face before she said in a stunned tone, "there are more of you?"

Kushina subtly slapped the back of Dean's head before he asked something stupid like if Hagrid had bred him like the Thestrals. Parvati raised her hand tentatively, before she asked, "sir, if it's not too rude to ask. Why have the other centaurs banished you?"

Firenze sighed and said, "because I remain friends with humans, and I respect the Headmaster of Hogwarts enough to defend him among my kind. As well as for several other reasons that I will not discuss. They see my actions as a betrayal of our kind, and thus have banished me from the herd. If the headmaster had not offered me the job I would have ended up alone, as no other herd would have taken me in, since I would be seen as a traitor by all herds for my actions."

Kushina snorted and said, "you are always welcome wherever I call home, Firenze."

The Palomino centaur looked over at the young woman and nodded, "thank you little emerald. Although if all goes well, I will be living here, and teaching the foals of the wizarding world."

Kushina remembered how, nearly four years ago, the centaur Bane had shouted at Firenze for allowing her to ride to safety on his back; he had called him a 'common mule.' She wondered whether it had been Bane who had kicked Firenze in the chest, if he had he would find out just why the spiders of the forest feared Kushina. She would introduce him to Manda and make sure that the Forbidden Forest Herd knew that she considered Firenze a friend and would not tolerate any harm coming to him.

Firenze shifted nervously when he caught the look in Kushina's eyes, he feared for his former herd, he knew that Kushina considered him a dear friend. And she was fiercely protective of her friends and family, even more fierce than a mother dragon is of her nest when it's full of eggs.

He said, "let us begin," he swished his long tail, then raised his hand towards the leafy canopy overhead, then lowered it slowly. As he did so, the light in the room dimmed, so that they now seemed to be sitting in a forest clearing by twilight, and stars appeared on the ceiling.

There were oohhs, ahhs, and gasps from the students watching and Ron audibly said, "Blimey!"

"Lie back on the floor," Firenze instructed in his calm voice, "and observe the heavens. Here is written, for those who can see, the fortune of our races."

Kushina stretched out on her back and gazed upwards at the ceiling. A twinkling red star winked at him from overhead.

"I know that you've learned the names of the planets and their moons in Astronomy," said Firenze quietly, "and that you have mapped the stars progress through the heavens. Centaurs have unraveled the mysteries of these movements over the centuries. Our findings teach us that the future may be glimpsed in the sky above us…"

"Professor Trelawney did astrology with us!" said Parvati excitedly, raising her hand in front of her so that it stuck up in the air as she laid on her back. "Mars causes accidents and burns and things like that, and when it makes an angle to Saturn, like now," she drew a right-angle in the air above her, "that means people need to be extra careful when handling hot things…"

"That is human nonsense," Firenze interrupted her coldly.

Parvati's hand fell limply to her side, and she stared up at the sky in wordless shock.

"Trivial hurts, tiny human accidents," said Firenze, as his hooves thudded over the mossy floor. "These are of no more significance than the scurrying of ants to the wide universe, and are unaffected by planetary movements."

"Professor Trelawney," began Parvati, in a hurt and indignant voice.

"Is a human," said Firenze simply. "She is therefore blinkered and fettered by the limitations of your kind."

Kushina turned her head very slightly to look at Parvati, she looked very offended, as did several other people who worshiped Trelawney as the ultimate authority of Divination.

"Sybil Trelawney may have Seen, I do not know," continued Firenze and Kushina heard the swishing of his tail again as he walked up and down before them, "but she wastes her time, in the self-flattering nonsense that humans call fortune-telling. I, however, am here to explain the wisdom of the centaurs, which is impersonal and impartial. We watch the skies for the great tides of evil or change that are sometimes marked there. It can take ten years to be sure of what we are seeing."

Firenze pointed to the red star directly above Kushina. "In the past decade, the indications have been that wizard kind is living through nothing more than a brief calm between two wars. Mars, bringer of battle, shines brightly above us, suggesting that the fight must break out soon again. How soon, centaurs may attempt to divine by burning of certain herbs and leaves, by the observation of fume and flame.."

It was the most unusual lesson that the class had ever attended, they did indeed burn sage and mallow sweet there on the classroom floor, and Firenze told them to look for certain shapes and symbols in the pungent fumes. He seemed perfectly unconcerned that not one of them could see any of the signs he described, telling them that humans were hardly ever good at this, that it took centaurs years and years to become competent and finished by telling them that it was foolish to put too much faith in such things, anyway because even the centaurs sometimes read them wrong.

He was nothing like any of the human instructors that Kushina had ever had, his priority did not seem to be to teach them what he knew, but to impress upon them that nothing, not even the centaur's knowledge, was foolproof.

"He's not very definite on anything, is he?" Ron said in a low voice, as the pair put out their mallow-sweet fire. "I mean, I could do with a few more details about this war we're about to have, couldn't you?"

The bell rang right outside the classroom door and everyone jumped; Kushina had forgotten that they were inside the castle, and almost convinced she was in the Forest. The class filed out, looking slightly perplexed.

Kushina and Ron were about to follow them when Firenze called out, "Kushina, little emerald, a word, please."

She turned, the centaur advanced a little towards her. Ron hesitated slightly.

"You may stay," Firenze told him. "But close the door, please."

Ron hastened to obey.

"Kushina, you are a friend of Hagrid's, are you not?" asked the centaur.

Kushina raised her eyebrow and said firmly, "yes, of course."

"Then do give him a warning for me, his attempt is not working, he would do better to abandon it." While Firenze was speaking he stamped his right front hoof and stared into her eyes without blinking.

Kushina looked at him puzzled and repeated blankly, "his attempt isn't working?"

"And he would do better to abandon it," said Firenze, nodding. "I would warn him myself, but he would not listen to me about it. But he might listen to you, Hagrid has troubles enough without worrying about a centaur battle."

"But…What is Hagrid attempting to do?" asked Kushina nervously.

Firenze surveyed his human friend impassively before he said, "Hagrid has recently rendered me a great service." His tail twitched and swished, while his hooves stomped nervously on the mossy floor. "And he has long since earned my respect for the care he shows all living creature. I shall not betray his secret, but he must be brought to his senses. The attempt is not working, tell him Kushina. Good day to you, I shall speak with you later."

As the pair left Kushina looked back to see Firenze gazing up at the stars. She frowned, wondering what Hagrid was attempting that Firenze thought was not working at all. She mentally snarled at the memory of the hoof-print shaped bruises on Firenze, he had been injured seventeen days ago and they were still present.

She knew that Hagrid would have treated the wounds with bruise balm, and for them to still be present meant only one thing, someone had kicked her friend very hard. Whoever it was that had hurt him had not intended for him to live long afterward.

Her eyes glinted with determination and she made her decision. She would be speaking with the Herd of Centaurs in the Forest…tonight.

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Later that night after curfew, Kushina left Hogwarts and strode into the Forbidden Forest, last year after the third task was over she had visited the Acromantula colony and warned Aragog and his mate that they had better keep a tight leash on their children. Either do that or face the consequences, she wouldn't kill the pair but if their children harmed anyone, all of their children would be put to death via snake stomachs. When the pair scoffed at her and didn't believe her warning she summoned Manda, she had then asked if they believed her threat now.

She had made them swear that they wouldn't allow their children to hurt, maim or kill any human that entered the forest. When they complained that their children wouldn't get enough to eat, she had merely told them coldly, "then you shouldn't have had so many in the first place."

As she walked toward the forest she thought to herself, _'this will make the second species capable of speaking English that I've had to warn.'_ She sighed but as she walked into the forest she transformed smoothly into her cheetah animagus form. She decided to remind Aragog and Mosag about their promises to her, thus she veered off the path and headed toward the colony.

As she stalked forward the spiders fled before her, she snickered mentally and thought to herself, _'I've become the equivalent of a Basilisk to this colony.'_

As she entered Aragog's lair she transformed back into human form, she said, "greetings to thee, Aragog and Mosag."

Aragog blindly stared at her and asked, "why are you here, friend of Hagrid?" As he spoke he clicked his pincers nervously, wondering if perhaps one of his children had disobeyed his orders and harmed a human, then didn't tell him about it and so now the rest would now pay the price.

She narrowed her eyes at him, although he couldn't see it and said with a hissing undertone, "to remind you of your promise. I know you are reaching the end of your life, and soon you will die of old age. After all you are over fifty years old, very old for an Acromantula. However, your mate will still be bound by her oath, I'd just thought I'd remind her of that. As I will kill ever single one of her children should just one harm anyone that enters the forest from Hogwarts."

As she spoke she glared coldly at the female Acromantula and the female shuddered both at the glare and the threat to her children but she didn't do anything she knew that Kushina had a valid threat.

With that she nodded to Mosag and said, "good day, Aragog."

She then turned and walked out of the Acromantula lair, as she walked toward the Centaur's area of the Forest. She ran across a Blessing of Unicorns, she halted at the edge of the clearing and noticed that several of the coats of the unicorns were matted slightly from sweat and dust. She also noted that the manes and tails of the adults contained brambles, her prescence was quickly noticed by the adults of the Blessing and at first they prepared to run. But as she relaxed her tightly constrained Reiatsu they noticed she meant them no harm and went back to grazing.

She approached the head mare and stallion of the Blessing, after bowing to them she asked, "would thee like me to comb out the brambles in your manes and tails?"

The pair tossed their heads and after several moments of nickering to each other the Stallion approached and nodded to her. He then presented himself for her brushing out his mane and tail. She quickly pulled out one of her storage scrolls and summoned a set of grooming tools for horses, she first used the rubber curry brush in a circular motion to loosen any dirt lying under the coat of the stallion. She was very light about using the brush on his back and shoulders, she completely avoided his head.

She then put down the rubber curry brush and picked up the stiff bristled Dandy Brush, she started at his neck and used a flicking motion, similar to what she would have used with a broom on a floor to flick away the dirt and dust that had been embedded in his coat. she worked her way down to his tail before she switched to the other side.

After she was finished using the Dandy Brush she put it on the ground and picked up the soft bristled Body brush, she once again started at the neck and brushed the stallion. After she was done his coat was gleaming a glowing, pearly white.

Next she picked up the mane comb and gently began to comb his mane, but first she gently extracted the brambles from his mane, in order to reduce the chance of her accidentally pulling at his mane and hurting him. After his mane was brushed and detangled she put down the mane comb and picked the Dandy brush back up. After she cleaned it she began to brush out the tangles in his tail, she started from the bottom up so as to cause less pain. After she was done brushing the tail she cast a spell for warm water and rinsed it lightly before she applied a tail conditioner to it.

She asked him, "do you want me to clean your hooves?"

He tossed his mane and appeared to think about it, before he nodded, she smiled gently at him and put down the Dandy Brush again. She reached for his front right hoof and after gently squeezing her hand around his fetlock, she said, "can you lift this hoof for me, please?"

He obliged her and lifted it, she gently held it in-between her knees to keep it steady and picked up the hoof pick with attached brush. She made sure not to lift the hoof to high to avoid unbalancing him, she then started to clean the hoof, scraping away from herself to avoid injuring either of them if he made a sudden move. She cleaned out the hollow on both sides of the frog and then around the sole of the foot. She did the same for the other three hooves before she wiped a towel over his coat to bring out the shine.

She smiled at him and said, "alright, you're all done." She then looked up at the herd and asked, "whose next?"

The lead mare stepped up and waited patiently for Kushina to clean the brushes she used on the stallion then to begin working on her coat. Kushina cleaned the mare easily and the rest of the Blessing, the work went fairly quickly thanks to their efforts to stay perfectly still. Kushina stayed away from the few foals of the Blessing, though a few of them approached her curiously, she gave each one that came up a small bite of apple but shooed it away so she could continue working.

After two hours she was finished with the Blessing and was packing away both the brushes and the tail hairs she collected via the Dandy brush. The Stallion approached her and she heard a voice in her head, '_**Thank you for your services, little witch. We would like to present you with a few gifts as our thanks.'**_

She blinked a bit in shock but acquiesced with a tilt of her head and asked curiously, "what are the gifts?"

One of the mares approached the stallion and Kushina heard as he said, '_**you will need a large flask for the first gift,'**_ he waited until she had pulled out a large flask before he pierced the mare in the shoulder and caused her to bleed. Kushina moved quickly to put the flask over the wound after he pulled out his horn. As she collected the blood he said, '_**unicorn blood willingly given is highly sought after. Or so I've been told, the wizards have forgotten the way their ancestors had retrieved our blood.'**_

After the flask was filled the stallion touched his horn to the mares wound and it healed. Three more mares approached and the stallion said, _**'three unicorn horns wiling shed for the one who has earned their respect.**_' Kushina's eyes widened, most of the unicorn horns sold were dropped off when a new horn grew in, a horn willingly given before it was time to be shed was more powerful.

After she collected the three horns and placed them into sealing scrolls along with the flask of unicorn blood, she gathered up the brushes and put them away. As she turned to walk away she said, "if you want another brushing just come to Hagrid's hut on a Sunday afternoon and I'll brush you again."

The stallion who had been leading the Blessing away from the clearing paused and said, _**'I will bear that in mind, little emerald.'**_ She blinked in shock, before she shrugged and thought to herself, _'huh, I guess news got around about Firenze's nickname for me.'_

Unnoticed by Kushina was a necklace that had appeared around her neck, it was a bone white pendant carved to look like a unicorn, and carved on it were runes that stated she was a friend of a particular Blessing of unicorns. When she mated for the first time the color of the pendant would change, it would become a pale cream if the coupling was willing and a pitch black if it was not.

She walked toward the centaur's territory, she paused about three yards away and removed her boots and socks. She then placed them into a sealing scroll before she strode right into the heart of the centaur's territory and said to one of the guards, "I want to speak to the elders of the herd."

The young guard was startled, he had never had a human demand to see the elders of the herd before. He was about to punish her for her impertinence when he heard a voice from behind him call out, "let her in. If she wishes to see the elders than the elders will see her."

Reluctantly the guards let her pass, as she walked past them she held her head high and proud. They noticed that she was walking barefoot in the forest, something humans normally didn't do, they thought it odd but ignored it.

The leader of the herd was the one who had spoken, Magorian had heard the warnings the stars spoke of, he had read the signs, if angered this woman could cause the banishment of the herd. He had cautioned the Elders of the herd to listen to her before deciding what to do.

Though Kushina inclined her head, she refused to bow to the herd's elders, the elders introduced themselves as was proper. From left to right was Aeacus, a male, next to him was his brothers, Minos and Rhydanmanthus. Beside them were the sisters, Andra, Urania and Thisbe. Pyramus stood beside his mate, Thisbe, after they had granted her their names the seven waited for her to introduce herself.

Kushina said, "I am Kushina Ruri Potter-Lupin, only daughter of Remus Lupin and James Potter."

Magorian stood to the side silently watching as this woman-child spoke to the elders of his herd. He listened as Aeacus asked, "why did you seek an audience with us?"

Kushina stared him in the eye and said, "seventeen days ago, you banished a centaur from your herd by the name of Firenze, correct?"

Andra frowned and said, "that is correct. Why do you ask?"

Kushina ignored the question and asked, "what was his punishment? Besides banishment that is?"

The seven elders frowned and Minos said, "there was no other punishment to be given. Banishment from the herd was enough."

Kushina's eyes flashed a golden color and she stated blandly, "so he wasn't to be harmed, correct?"

Urania nodded, "that is correct. Why do you wish to know this?" The black haired female asked curiously.

Kushina frowned and said coldly, "because, Hagrid came across seven centaurs surrounding Firenze as he was leaving the forest, and they kicked him. He still has faint bruises from the kicks, bruises that by all rights should be gone with the bruise balm that Hagrid used on him. So you are saying that the elders of the herd didn't order Bane and the others to hurt Firenze as part of his punishment?"

Both Thisbe and Pyramus growled in anger, Firenze was their great-grandson and though they didn't want to banish him, he had broken the centaurs law of non interference. Thisbe spoke in a cold voice, "what do you mean by that? Bane hurt Firenze?"

Kushina nodded and said, "yes. I've come to deliver a message, will you hear it?"

The seven elders nodded and Pyramus said, "speak thy message."

Kushina cleared her throat, "to the centaur herd of the Forbidden Forest. Firenze the centaur formally of thy herd has been adopted by the Marauder Pack and thus is under our protection. Harm him again and face our wrath," she stared at the elders as the youths around her gaped at her in shock for her daring of threatening the elders. She then added, "if the herd threatens or harms a student of Hogwarts or indeed a Professor of Hogwarts and you will find out just why the Acromantula have begun to fear me."

After she said that she turned away stating, "that was my only message to the elders of the herd."

She paused before she exited the clearing where the elders were and said while staring straight ahead, "I consider Firenze a dear friend and I will see no harm come to him."

She glanced over her shoulder and stared Bane in the eye and commented, "test my temper, if you dare."

She then strode out of the clearing, the guards were too shocked to attempt to stop her, Bane and the rest of his cronies attempted to go after her only to find that the elders had ordered them stopped.

She heard as Aeacus said, "are you a fool Bane? Do you not know who she is descended from? She is Slytherin and Gryffindor's heir, the owner of the Forest and all surrounding lands by both magic and blood right. If she wishes she could banish the entire herd for your actions. You will cease all wanderings of the forest. From now on all of your patrols will be supervised by an Elder."

She smirked smugly at that and as she walked away she could feel the stares of the guards, and transformed into her animagus form before using her tree walking skills to climb a nearby tree and leap from tree to tree. She could see that Firenze had waited fifteen feet from the edge of the Forbidden Forest, he must have realized what she was up to earlier and followed her. But he was too late to stop her from going in so he must have decided to waited for her.

She leapt from the last tree transforming back into human form and landing in a crouch, she then walked past Firenze who said, "you needn't have done whatever you just did."

She snorted and said, "considering that the elders hadn't ordered you to have physical punishment on top of banishment, yes I did." She stopped beside him and looked up at him before she smiled gently at him, "don't worry I merely gave them a warning."

Firenze sighed but he knew that there was no good complaining, what is done is done. He then escorted her to the marble staircase leading up to the upper floors, he said, "good night, little emerald."

She nodded her head and walked up the stairs, she heard him continuing down the hall to his quarters which was now near his classroom. She then continued up the stairs, knowing that she would be getting up in six hours.

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The next day during the free period for the fifth years Lavender and Parvati noticed Kushina was outside standing next to Firenze. The other students looked at their squeals and saw that Kushina was brushing Firenze's coat, the pair were talking quietly. Both Ron and Hermione were completely unsurprised at the way the pair was acting.

During her many walks with Hagrid during fourth year she had met up with Firenze again and the pair had gotten to know one another. After several months the pair had built a friendship that had a firm foundation, just as strong as the friendship she had with Ron and Hermione. The centaur had been one of the few she had told about her true gender, the others being Ron, Hermione, and Neville.

Hagrid had taught her how to brush a horse, she'd asked him so she could brush the dirt and dust out of Firenze coat after he took her for a run. He'd been careful to only let her ride him where he was sure none of the other centaurs could see. He'd been surprised at how much he enjoyed having her on his back and whooping at how fast he could run. After she had gained her animagus form he'd found how much fun it was to be racing an animal who could run faster than him. Kushina had to keep a firm control on her animal instincts, since her inner cat had at first wanted to trip the centaur and suffocate him. That is until she had gotten her inner beast to learn that Firenze was part of it Pard, which was the equivalent to a wolfs pack.

Once her inner beast had finally understood that Firenze wasn't prey she had been able to relax and enjoy the chase without the worry.

But to most of the students it was a shock that she was brushing the sweat from a run from his coat, even the headmaster was a bit startled by the fact that she was grooming the centaur.

Since his coat started at where the human torso ended she only had to brush from his withers down and from his breast back. Since he didn't have a mane as such, she left the mane comb alone but she did brush out his tail.

She ended the grooming session by cleaning and trimming his hooves, when she was finished she slapped him on the withers and said, "all done, Firenze. How does that feel now?"

Firenze stomped his hooves one at a time on the hard packed earth of the small paddock near Hagrid's hut and he said, "my hooves feel better now. Thank you, little emerald." He ended his comment with a swish of his tail.

She laughed and said while packing away the brushes to be placed back into the stable where Hagrid sometimes kept a Thestral or two, "no problem, Firenze. I'm always happy to help."

The month flew by and before anyone knew it the Hufflepuff verses Gryffindor game was upon them, Kushina had been injured while helping Hagrid with a very difficult patient and due to the nature of the injury Madam Pomfrey couldn't use magic to speed up the healing process.

Thus Ginny had to play seeker for Gryffindor, as Madam Pomfrey had forbidden Kushina from playing Quidditch until her shoulder healed enough to be out of the sling. The only thing Kushina had to say about it was, "thank the gods its my left and not my right arm. At least this way we can see how good Ginny is at seeking with the rest of the team."

Lee announced the team and commented, "well the usual Gryffindor Seeker is currently on the bench due to an unforeseen injury. Playing Seeker for Gryffindor is GINNY WEASLEY! That's right ladies and gentlemen, there are now four Weasleys on the pitch!"

Lee continued to comment on the game commiserating with both sides when the other team made a goal. At the end of the game he shouted, "and after a spectacular dive Weasley catches the snitch but it's not enough to win the game for Gryffindor, Gryffindor loses the game by ten points! Let's hear it for the Hufflepuff team, and lets all have a round of applause for a well played game by the Lions of Gryffindor!"

After the game was over Gryffindor was disappointed but they had done well, Ginny had caught the snitch but Hufflepuff won the game. They won with two hundred and forty points to two hundred and thirty.

Though the Gryffindor's were disappointed with their loss, they cheered up knowing that if Slytherin lost to Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff lost to Slytherin then they could still win if they won the Gryffindor verses Ravenclaw game. Angelina was determined that if they got the chance then they would win, so the old team would be playing and that meant Kushina wouldn't be helping Hagrid before the next game they played.

Ron bemoaned the loss but all Kushina said to him, "you win some and you lose some."

He glared at her and said, "stop being so pessimistic."

She had stared back at him and said, "I'm realistic not pessimistic."

All the Gryffindors in the common room turned and stared at the red haired girl sitting by the fire and chorused, "you are to pessimistic!"

She sniffed in mock outrage and said, "fine, I know when I'm not wanted," with that she flounced to her rooms and shut the door.

The rest of them snicker and turn back to what they were doing, Angelina was going over plays they could use in the possible Gryffindor verses Ravenclaw match. Fred and George were muttering over a piece of paper, and Ron didn't want to know just what it was they were planning, after all the less he knew the more he could plead ignorance.

Meanwhile some of the girls were talking about how they hadn't see Professor Snape's dog in a while, the few seventh and sixth years spoke up and said, "we've seen it a few times. He's had it with him in his office, I think it was just feeling sick," the sixth year then added, "I overheard Professor Lily ask about how the dog was feeling, he told her that his silly mutt had finally stopped feeling sick to his stomach."

Ron snorted and said, "I could have told you that."

The girls glanced over at him and one said scornfully, "how would you have known?"

Ron looked at her coldly, "maybe because my best friends Aunt happens to be his best friend and all but adopted baby sister." He snorted and commented, "Snuffles was just feeling under the weather, Professor Snape had him looked over and it was recommended that Snuffles receive plenty of rest. Other than that Snuffles was fine, Professor Snape is just being overly worried about his silly mutt." With that Ron walked up to the fifth year boys dorm to ignore the girls, who were now gossiping away.

Thirty minutes after Ron left Hermione fled to the library to get some peace and quiet. She settled into a chair at a secluded table in the back of the library and settled down with a few books on Egyptian mythology specifically on the mythology surrounding the god Thoth. As she settled in to read she completely ignored the rest of the library, she knew Kushina was probably sneaking out of the tower via her window and Firebolt. Just because she couldn't play Quidditch didn't mean she couldn't fly, she just wouldn't have been able to hold onto the broom and catch the snitch at the same time.

Kushina flew for hours above the Quidditch pitch and when it started getting dark she landed, heading back inside the castle she stopped by the kitchens to pick up some food since she skipped dinner rather than going into the Great Hall. Flying had always relaxed her, the only other times she felt as free as she did while flying was when she was racing Kensei on a motorcycle or racing Firenze in her animagus form. She ignored the questioning glances from her fellow students as she walked through the halls back to Gryffindor tower.

Seamus and Dean looked up when she entered the common room, but since she was carrying her broomstick in her left hand they figured she must have escaped out of the window. In her right hand was a covered tray that she took to her room and before the door closed she said, "don't disturb me unless it's an emergency. All right?"

Both boys nodded before turning back to their game, Dean was attempting to teach Seamus how to play monopoly. He wasn't really succeeding, Seamus kept wanting to move more spaces than he was allowed. But the last time the pair had played risk Seamus nearly set the board on fire from frustration.

Dean sighed and began explaining how to play the game for the seventh time when the door finally shut behind Kushina.

Kushina rolled her neck and her shoulders to get the kinks that her hours of flying had put in them, despite her shoulder being immobilized she was still able to rotate it in the socket. For which she was thankful or she'd be tense until she could take the darn sling off, she couldn't believe she'd been so careless as to allow one of Hagrid's pets that close enough to do damage when she knew that any wound inflicted by it's claws had to heal naturally. She hit her head on the desk in front of her with a resounding thunk before she got up from the chair and walked to her bedroom.

She snorted and said aloud, "never thought I'd be thankful for all those years as an ANBU and injuring myself." She shook her head and prepared for bed but not before she called Dobby. She had him give her a report on Naruto's progress with the scrolls she'd given him during one of her infrequent visits.

Dobby mentioned that Naruto had found her old chakra swords that Minato had given her as a Chuunin graduation present. He also told her that Naruto was getting more practice at summoning the specific cheetah he wanted instead of a random one. Kushina snorted as she brushed her hair preparing to put it into a braid for the night, she then remarked mildly, "that's good. That talent will come in handy when he starts taking missions outside the village after he makes it to Genin."

Dobby blinked his tennis ball sized eyes at her and said, "if mistress Shina says so." Dobby then cocked his head to the right and asked, "does mistress need anything else from Dobby?"

Kushina laughed and said, "no Dobby. You can go back to Naruto."


	28. Chapter 27: Lions and Ravens

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Lions and Ravens

March flew past without major incidents although halfway through the month the students and teachers once again received a shock from Kushina. They looked outside one morning to find a Blessing of Unicorns around Hagrid's hut and Hagrid gaping at the Blessing, Hagrid came into the school and said, "Kushina, you've got some guests at me hut."

Kushina had looked at him a bit puzzled but exited the school to find the leaders of the Blessing standing a few feet away from Hagrid's hut. The rest of the Blessing was nearer to the forest. Kushina smiled and bowed to the pair, she then asked quietly, "come for a brushing?"

The stallion of the herd whinnied and tossed his head, before he answered her mentally, **'yes, little emerald. Our hooves felt better after you cleaned them, and our coats also felt better after you had brushed them. Would you be willing to groom us for the same payment as last time?'**

Kushina nodded and said, "yes, that payment would be acceptable."

The students and teachers all wondered what the unicorns would be paying her for and what with. Kushina walked over to the small stable that Hagrid kept the grooming brushes in to retrieve them. The rest of the school settled down to watch as Kushina began grooming the Blessing and she started with the head mare and the stallion. As she was brushing the stallion she gestured to a pair of foals and commented, "those little ones have grown since the last time I've seen them."

The foals caught her scent and wandered over, they clearly remembered how the last time they had gotten pieces of apple from her for their curiosity. She laughed when one of them nudged her hip and let out a soft whinny. She looked down at the foal and said, "I don't have any apples on me little one. But if your dad gives his permission I can call a house elf about some." She then glanced questioningly at the stallion who seemed to consider it before he nodded his head with a snort.

She called Winky who after she asked her for some apples for the foals of the Blessing, immediately brought back an entire medium sized basket of apples. Kushina gave an apple to each of the foals since she wouldn't be brushing them. She told the rest of the Blessing that she would give them an apple after she finished grooming them.

Lily nudged James and Remus before she joked, "well at least you don't have to worry about her being pure. You can't get more proof about purity than to be surrounded by a Blessing of Unicorns and have them demanding to be brushed by you."

Remus laughed and said, "true and according to the marriage contract between them Kushina has to remain that way until her seventeenth birthday." He glanced over at James and said, "you do realize that as soon as she turns seventeen she's going to want to marry him. Right?"

James sighed but laughed, "yeah, I know. She's too much like us to do anything else."

They all continued to watch until Kushina had finished brushing the Blessing and had given all of them an apple a piece. Then to the shock of the watchers, Kushina had Winky bring her a large flask and one of the mares came up to stand next to the stallion. The stallion pierced her right flank with his horn and when he pulled out his horn, Kushina caught the blood flow in the flask once the flask was full she pulled it away and the stallion healed the wound.

Next three of the mares of the Blessing approached and they knelt putting their horns closer to the ground and with a flash of golden light the horns severed from their heads and dropped to the ground. Kushina thanked all of them for their gifts and gathered them before she carefully placed them into a bag after tagging them with the name of the mare and how old she was.

She did the same procedure for the tail hair of the unicorns, finally she labeled the flask of blood with the mares name, age and how many foals she'd birthed. Severus and Lily gaped in shock, unicorn blood willingly given hadn't been able to be collected for ages. And all Kushina had done was groom a Blessing of unicorns to get a very large flask of it, not to mention getting three horns willingly shed.

Besides that incident nothing of note happened in March, Neville had improved in leaps and bounds in potions now that he had a teacher he wasn't afraid of. The Slytherins had quickly learned not to anger a red haired witch who was also your head of houses best friend.

During April many of the students began to speculate on why Professor Snape had become so protective and doting to his pet dog. The dog no longer wandered the school but instead stayed either in Snape's quarters or in his office and classroom. Professor Snape always seemed to be coaxing or telling it to lie down and rest.

When the trio came across a bunch of sixth years speculating about it, Kushina had snorted and commented, "don't worry the silly mutt will be up and about next year. Professor Snape's just worried about Snuffles health, after all he just got over being sick to his stomach in February." She had then rolled her eyes at their silliness and walked away.

The sixth year Ravenclaws had gaped both at the information that Kushina had given them and her confidence that the dog would be fine.

Aside from that April was very quiet, the dog still came up sometimes to dinner with professor Snape and would convince the other teachers to give him bits of their food when he did. Professor Snape would scold him about taking the fatty foods but wouldn't say anything about the more healthy food that the other Professors snuck the dog. After the dog made the rounds of the tables he would pad back to Professor Snape and lie down at his feet.

However in May the fifth year students were called to their Head of Houses and after they returned to their common room refused to say anything about what had been discussed to those who had yet to be summoned. Kushina was called to McGonagall's office on the eleventh of May at two o'clock.

Professor McGonagall looked up from her papers and said, "good after noon Ms. Potter, please have a seat." With that she'd gestured toward a pair of chairs by the fireplace, and Kushina shrugged but took a seat in one of the chairs. McGonagall marked a note on one of the papers then set her quill down and joined Kushina by the fire.

She had a parcel of papers in her right hand that she set down on the table between the chairs, "would you like some tea?" Professor McGonagall offered.

"Yes, please, two sugars and a splash of milk," Kushina replied.

After a few minutes of quietly sipping tea Kushina asked, "so what am I doing here?"

Minerva chuckled quietly before she answered, "May is career advice month. In other words the heads of houses talk to the fifth years about what career they might be taking after they finish school. Certain jobs require passing grades in specific classes. Take being an Auror for example, you need a passing grade in NEWT Potions in order to be one, as well as having very good DADA grades."

Kushina blinked then cocked her head to the left as she dipped a biscuit in her tea, "so, I'm supposed to figure out what I might want to do with my life after Hogwarts…Hmm, that's a tough one, I actually enjoy teaching so that might be a good choice, but I'd probably miss the excitement of solving mysteries."

Minerva smiled at her students pondering and after allowing Kushina to think a bit more she said, "well if you're interested in teaching you will have to gain a mastery in the subject you want to teach. Before I became the Transfiguration Professor I had to gain my mastery in transfigurations. You will have to do the same with whatever subject you want to teach, be it DADA, Transfigurations or Potions. Before this year Severus only took students who had got an O on their OWLS for his NEWT classes. But he decided to lower it to Exceeds Expectations instead, he'll still only get the cream of the crop but at least he'll still have relatively small classes."

Kushina nodded and said, "alright. So what do I need to do to be able to choose between them after school?"

Minerva laid the parchments out on the table in front of Kushina, she could see that they were brochures on different careers, the pair that Minerva had laid directly in front of her was the brochures for teaching and Auror careers. Minerva cleared her throat, "for teaching you would have to choose what subject you wish to teach and concentrate on that subject. It would be best to play to your strengths in this instance, you are very skilled in DADA, it wouldn't be all that hard for you to teach it since you know it very well. But on the other hand you've been teaching already."

Kushina smiled ruefully, "true, I have been teaching, but that's only because Professor Dumbledore couldn't get Master Yoruichi to teach."

Minerva snorted, "nonsense, Albus would have waited if you weren't capable of teaching. Yoruichi has the utmost confidence in you, and Albus trusts her judgment."

By the time Kushina left McGonagall's office she knew which classes she'd be dropping, Divination would be dropped immediately as well as History of Magic, she learned more from history books then she did Binns. Neither class was essential to either of her chosen possible careers. She was leaning towards Auror since it reminded her of being a Shinobi and ANBU as well as her old job as head of the Kings Guard. However teaching had its fun parts too, she had trained several ANBU during her tenure as Head of the ANBU force.

Fourteen days later it was the Ravenclaw verses Gryffindor match, Lee was once again commentating, it was his last game to commentate on before he left school. He cheerfully announced that fact and said, "well ladies and gentlemen this will be the last time I commentate unless I get asked back by some odd chance."

Minerva interrupted and said, "not a chance, Mr. Jordan. If I want comments like yours all I have to do is ask your Defense Professor to commentate." At that remark the students in the stands blink in shock, Professor Lupin used to commentate at Quidditch Games.

Due to it being the last game of the season, it was a fast and furious game, Ginny and the Creevey brother were watching breathlessly from the stands as Kushina made a spectacular dive that Chang followed her down. Kushina had pulled up at the last minute causing Cho to slam into the ground, Cho was dazed but neither her nor the broom was damaged or injured.

After a few minutes Madam Hooch allowed Cho back into the air, Kushina had taken the opportunity to glance around for the snitch while the chasers of both teams had fought for the Quaffle, Ravenclaw had so far scored ten times while Gryffindor had scored fifteen times. Gryffindor had possession of the Quaffle and Angelina had shot and scored when Kushina had noticed the snitch out of the corner of her eye, Cho was still on the ground at that point.

Kushina decided it wouldn't be very sporting of her if she caught the snitch while Cho was on the ground so she wandered over to the snitch and scared it away. The snitch was designed to flee from anyone who came to close to it, much like the Snidget would have done.

Assured that it wouldn't be making an appearance any time soon she turned her attention back to the game during the time she was scaring the snitch Gryffindor had scored three more times while Ravenclaw had gotten lucky and scored two more times. Just as Cho returned to the sky Ravenclaw scored another ten points, however in the time after that and right before the snitch made another appearance Gryffindor scored twice.

Kushina spotted the snitch near the ground and dove down, Cho thinking it was just another feint stayed higher up at least until she spotted the flash of gold that Kushina had spotted earlier. Although she knew she was too far away to catch it, Cho still had to try, if she didn't she would be ashamed of herself.

However for Ravenclaws disappointment Kushina reached out and caught the snitch, she pulled out of her dive and held it up so Madam Hooch could see it. Hooch blew her whistle and Lee announced, "and Gryffindor wins the match three hundred and fifty to one hundred and thirty. A very nice game between Ravenclaw and Gryffindor!"

Gryffindor cheered for their team and Angelina whooped over their win, this made the second time they had won the Quidditch Cup. Hermione was cheering along with the reserve Quidditch team. Fred and George got permission from Kushina to have a party in the common room, once again Gryffindor invited the losers of the match to the party. Unlike the Slytherin's the whole team accepted the invitation, Kushina had already told the Fat Lady what the password for the day would be.

The trio told the team that they'd join the party later as Hagrid wanted to talk to them, the team waved the three off and went to the common room to enjoy the party.

"So what do you think Hagrid wants to show us this time?" Ron asked as they trudged to the Hut on the outskirts of the forest.

Kushina shrugged, "I don't have a clue." She glanced at Hermione who gave her a shrug as well clearly as clueless as the other two.

Hagrid opened his door after the trio knocked and he beamed at them, since the day he came home from his trip to the giants, he'd been having scratches and cuts on his face and arms. He very rarely had bruises as bad as the ones he had when he came home, and most of those bruises had been concentrated on his legs and arms.

Today he didn't have any bruises that they could see but instead he had a couple of cuts on his hands. "Hello you three. Ready to go?" Hagrid asked them.

The trio looked at each other before Ron asked, "go where Hagrid?"

Hagrid looked up from where he was putting his boots on, "to the forest of course."

Kushina looked at him and asked, "and just what is in the forest that you need to show us?"

Hagrid stood up and said, "a friend. Don't worry none you'll like her and she'll more than likely like you."

Hermione and Ron looked at Kushina and said, "why do we have a very odd feeling that Hagrid made a side trip and found a friend that he shouldn't have brought home?"

Kushina sighed and said, "because you're probably right and this is Hagrid we're talking about." Despite their apprehensions, the trio followed Hagrid into the forest, he led them down a trail and the forest was a bit dense but not as dense as out towards the Acromantula lair.

As they approached a clearing that was against a rocky area that had a cave in it, Hagrid called out, "hello, are you in my lady?"

Ron and Hermione heard a hissing noise from the cave, while Kushina had heard, "greetings, Friend Hagrid." As they heard the hisses it seemed to be coming closer to them.

Hagrid looked at them excitedly and said, "I met her during my travels back to England after me and Olympe split up. She was a bit lonely and I offered to let her stay in the forest, I got Headmaster Dumbledore's permission for her to be here but I thought she might like to have more visitors."

At that moment, a woman appeared at the cave entrance or at least it appeared to be a woman until you looked at her lower half. Where the legs on a human would be was a long serpentine body instead. She cocked her head to the side and hissed out, "Who are these people you've brought with you?"

Kushina hissed back without thinking, "hello, my name is Kushina and these are my friends, Ron and Hermione. It's a pleasure to meet you Lady Lamia."

The lamia blinked and said back, "greetings Speaker. It's a pleasure to meet you and your friends. Do they speak as well?"

Kushina shook her head and said, "no they cannot speak your tongue, my lady. Hagrid said you might want different visitors than himself and asked that we come to meet you."

Hermione asked, "Kushina, what are you two talking about?" Hagrid looked excited at the fact that the pair were conversing.

Kushina looked over her shoulder at the three, "I introduced myself and you two to her. She was happy to meet a speaker and asked if the two of you could speak as well. I told her you couldn't but Hagrid wanted to introduce us to her."

Kushina glared at Hagrid playfully, "you should have introduced me to her sooner Hagrid. Or did you forget I can speak Parseltongue?"

Hagrid looked a bit sheepish and muttered, "I actually did forget to be honest."

Kushina snorted and said, "you're lucky I can teach her English, Hagrid."

Kushina then turned to the Lamia and asked, "Do you mind if I cast a spell on you that will allow you to speak the human tongue?"

The lamia blinked but shook her head, Kushina then cast a spell in Parseltongue. Kushina then smiled at her and said, "try to say something in English."

The lamia swallowed but turned to Hagrid and tentatively said, "hello, Friend Hagrid."

Hagrid promptly burst into tears, the Lamia's eyes widened in shock and she then turned to the trio with a worried look on her face. Kushina chuckled quietly before she said, "don't worry. He's just happy you consider him a friend."

The Lamia sighed in relief.

Kushina noticed Hermione's expression out of the corner of her eye and asked, "what is your name? I'm afraid I forgot to ask earlier."

The lamia blinked at her before she said, "I do not have a name." She paused thoughtfully before she added, "though some humans have called me Lady Lamia. I don't know why, all lamia's are female, except for a few rarely born males. But almost all Lamia's are female."

Hermione jotted down the information while Kushina frowned and asked, "could I give you a name then?"

The lamia turned wide eyes upon Kushina and said, "of course. It would be nice to have a name, something to be called besides my lady."

Kushina thought for several moments before she asked, "how about Belinda? It means Beautiful Serpent in Latin."

The lamia hissed softly to herself before she looked up and said, "I like it. It somewhat states what I am while still being relatively human enough to slip off of thy tongues easily." The Lamia bowed to Kushina and said, "thank you speaker for the name."

The five continued to speak for two hours before the four headed back to Hogwarts, Hermione had asked Belinda many questions concerning her life and the habits of Lamias. Hermione had been surprised that most lamias are made and not born, but all male lamias are born not made. She had been excited to find out that Belinda had known the four founders personally, and had in fact considered Salazar to be like a brother to her.

As they walked back to the castle, Kushina glanced at Hagrid and suggested, "why don't you do a class on Lamias Hagrid. I bet even the Slytherins would love it, especially since Belinda knew their founder personally."

Hagrid hummed in thought and said, "I just might. I'd have to ask Headmaster Dumbledore at first. I can't believe she's lived in that cave before. But it does explain why it was already fitted for habitation by a Lamia."

Hermione and Ron talked about how they had actually learned things, Belinda had a way of explaining history that had Ron captivated by it. Hermione looked at Ron then glanced back at Kushina and joked, "maybe we should get the Headmaster to hire Belinda as the History of Magic Professor. The students might just learn something."

Hagrid laughed and said, "I'll be sure to tell the headmaster that."

So while Hagrid stayed at his hut the trio continued into the castle and made their way to Gryffindor tower where the party was still in full swing. From what the three could see the Ravenclaws were in shock at how the Gryffindor's partied. They were probably even more shocked by the prescence of two Slytherins at the party. Theo was talking to Lee about something while Astoria was in the corner talking to Ginny and the twins about something. Kushina shook her head, she knew that look and it didn't bode well for Malfoy at all.

The trio was tugged further into the room by their housemates and told to enjoy the fun, the three laughed but joined in on the eating and drinking. After several rounds of Butterbeer, the twins convinced Kushina to sing for the common room. She muttered, "and just what the heck do you two want me to sing anyway?"

The twins cheerfully said, "quite frankly we don't care what you sing. We just want you to sing!"

Kushina grinned and said, "okay then. I got the perfect song!" Kushina flicked her wand and all the sudden the common room quieted due to the beat of the music playing through the air. Hermione groaned when she heard the music, when Ginny asked why she groaned Hermione muttered, "because I used this song to describe my dream guy."

Ginny snickered as Kushina began singing, "If you really want to know

What I want in a guy...

Well, I'm lookin' for a dream on a mean machine

With hell in his eyes.

I want a devil in skin tight leather,

And he's gonna be wild as the wind.

And one fine night, I'll be holdin' on tight...

To a coooool rider, a coooool rider.

If he's cool enough,

He can burn me through and through.

Whhoa ohhhh

If it takes forever,

Then I'll wait forever.

No ordinary boy,

No ordinary boy is gonna do.

I want a rider that cool."

Kushina hummed to the music before beginning again, "That's the way it's gonna be,

And that's the way that I feel.

I want a whole lot more than the boy next door,

I want hell on wheels.

Just give me a fine motorcycle,

With a man growin' out of the seat.

And move aside, cause I'm gonna ride...

With a coooool rider, a coooool rider.

If he's cool enough,

He can burn me through and through.

Whhoa ohhhh

If it takes forever,

Then I'll wait forever.

No ordinary boy,

No ordinary boy is gonna do.

I want a rider that's cool."

Kushina started humming to the music again as she bopped to the beat before continuing to sing, "I don't want no ordinary guys,

Comin' on strong to me.

They don't know what I'm lookin' for,

They don't know what I need.

They're gonna know when he gets here,

Cause the crowd will be shakin'.

I'll do anything to let him know,

That I'm his, his for the takin'.

I want a coooooool rider,

A cool, cool, cool, cool rider.

I want a coooooool rider,

A cool, cool, cool, cool rider.

I want a C-O-O-L R-I-D-E-R.

I need a C-O-O-L R-I-D-E-R.

I want a coooooool rider,

A cool, cool, cool, cool rider.

I want a coooooool rider,

A cool, cool, cool, cool rider.

I want a C-O-O-L R-I-D-E-R.

I need a C-O-O-L R-I-D-E-R.

I want a coooooool rider,

A cool, cool, cool, cool rider."

During the song Hermione groaned and hid her face, signaling to the rest of the Gryffindors that Hermione was the reason that Kushina picked this particular song. Ginny laughed from beside Hermione and shouted at the end of the song, "got any more for us!" Ron snickered to himself, he knew very well that Kushina would probably pick on Ginny next.

Kushina grinned and with a twist of her wand the music changed,

"Come take my hand

You should know me

I've always been in your mind

You know I will be kind

I'll be guiding you

Building your dream

Has to start now

There's no other road to take

You won't make a mistake

I'll be guiding you

You have to believe we are magic

Nothin' can stand in our way

You have to believe we are magic

Don't let your aim ever stray

And if all your hopes survive

Destiny will arrive

I'll bring all your dreams alive

For you

I'll bring all your dreams alive

For you

From where I stand

You are home free

The planets align so rare

There's promise in the air

And I'm guiding you

Through every turn

I'll be near you

I'll come anytime you call

I'll catch you when you fall

I'll be guiding you

You have to believe we are magic

Nothin' can stand in our way

You have to believe we are magic

Don't let your aim ever stray

And if all your hopes survive

Destiny will arrive

I'll bring all your dreams alive

For you

I'll bring all your dreams alive

For you

(Instrumental break)

You have to believe we are magic

Nothin' can stand in our way

You have to believe we are magic

Don't let your aim ever stray

And if all your hopes survive

Destiny will arrive

I'll bring all your dreams alive

For you

I'll bring all your dreams alive

For you."

Hermione clapped and said, "bravo, bravo. Hey Shina!"

Kushina looked up at her friend and said, "what?"

Hermione's brown eyes started dancing in wicked amusement and said, "care to sing the last song from that movie?"

Kushina looked around the common room and said, "alright but it's the last one for tonight got it?" She glared around the room as if to say, 'you had better say yes. Or else.' Everyone around the common room nodded quickly, they wanted to hear another song plus they didn't want Kushina angry at them.

Kushina flicked her wand a third time started up the music again and started to sing,

"A place where nobody dared to go

The love that we came to know

They call it Xanadu

And now

Open your eyes and see

What we have made is real

We are in Xanadu

A million lights are dancing

And there you are

A shooting star

An everlasting world

And you're here with me

Eternally

Xanadu, Xanadu,

(now we are here)

In Xanadu

Xanadu, Xanadu,

(now we are here)

In Xanadu

Xanadu, your neon lights will shine

For you, Xanadu

The love

The echoes of long ago

You needed the world to know

They are in Xanadu

The dream

That came through a million years

That lived on through all the tears

It came to Xanadu

A million lights are dancing

And there you are

A shooting star

An everlasting world

And you're here with me

Eternally

Xanadu, Xanadu,

(now we are here)

In Xanadu

Xanadu, Xanadu,

(now we are here)

In Xanadu

Now that I'm here

Now that you're near in Xanadu

Now that I'm here

Now that you're near in Xanadu

Xanadu…"

As she sang the other students listened in and was slightly in awe, not of her voice or the way she sang but of the lyrics she was singing. Although clearly Kushina made up for her lack of dancing skills by her singing skills. However the only reason she sucked at dancing was the fact that she wasn't good at leading in a dance, at least she was bad at structured dancing. Free style dancing, now that she was relatively good at.

Three days later on Wednesday, Hagrid announced to the class that he had a special treat for them. Malfoy muttered, "terrific, I wonder what horror he's going to unleash upon us this time."

Kushina shot a glare at him but he ignored her, she leaned over to Hermione and said, "remind me to tell Astoria to initiate plan number forty seven."

Hermione raised her eyebrows in shock and the Gryffindor's who overheard that all winced, they knew very well what plan number forty seven was. The last time it was implemented was back in her second year and Lockhart was annoying Kushina something fierce.

Hagrid had continued to speak, "now the being I'm about to introduce you to is very old. As such, they are very proud and you do not want to be insulting her." At that he stared down each and every student, "now she's not dangerous in a way. But on the other hand insult her and you will pay the price for it. However I don't think any of you will even be thinking of insulting her." With that he turned to the forests edge and said, "Belinda, you can come out now."

The Lamia had transformed into her pure serpent form and slithered out of the forest, as she made her way over some of the students eyes widened in shock. The snake was over thirty feet long and was at least five feet wide. It coiled around Hagrid and rubbed its cheek against his chest, it gave off a rattling hiss almost as if it was purring.

Kushina laughed quietly, and Dean said, "oh yeah, I almost forgot. You're a Parselmouth Shina. What did it just say?"

Kushina raised an eyebrow at him and said, "number one dean, that is a she. And all that she said was, 'hello Hagrid.' Nothing to get excited about, I was just laughing at how everyone was reacting to how big Belinda is."

Hagrid had chuckled and said, "hello to you as well Belinda. Now could you transform so I can tell them just what you are?"

Before the students eyes they could see as the upper body of the serpent changed but the lower half stayed the same, finally when the transformation finished they all saw a woman with yellow eyes and green hair. Her eyes had the same slit like pupils as a snake and when she smiled at them they could see her teeth were all pointed. Her canine teeth were far longer than the rest and her fingers ended not with fingernails but with talons.

She nodded a greeting to the students and said in a voice that had a hissing undertone, "greetings, Hatchlings of Hogwarts."

Seamus raised his hand and asked, "hatchlings?"

She gave a hissing laugh and said, "yes hatchlings. You are still too young to leave the nest on your own are you not?"

Several students were about to speak up and say they weren't children when they realized that she meant that society didn't consider them adults yet. The Serpent woman turned to Kushina and said, "greetings speaker. How have you been?"

Kushina smiled at her and said while sitting down on the ground, "I've been fine. How about yourself Belinda? Have the centaurs been troubling you?"

Belinda seemed to coil in on herself and said, "I've been well, and no the centaurs have not bothered me. They are far too worried that if they anger me I will simply eat them, silly fools." She snorted before she commented snidely, "as if I would eat something like them, I knew a very kind centaur once, he wasn't at all afraid of me." She looked a bit wistful, clearly remembering the centaur.

Lavender asked quietly, "umm, not to be rude miss. But what exactly are you?"

Belinda turned her yellow eyes on the brown haired girl and said, "I am a Lamia. When a serpent hibernates in an area of great magical strength for more than a hundred years, if it is a female serpent it will become a Lamia. No male serpent can make the transformation to the Lamia stage."

The classes eyes widened and Parvati said, "oh. If it's not too rude, how old are you?"

Belinda laughed her hissing laugh again and said, "child if thy question is too rude I will simply tell you and not answer it. As for my age I recently turned three thousand, five hundred and forty years old."

The students gaped at her in shock, Neville especially gaped at her, to be that old and still look so young. She didn't appear to be any older than twenty years old, if that even. When the class told her that she laughed and said, "lamias age very well. It has to do with how we are a magical creature."

She then looked around and asked, "what else you thee like to ask me."

Neville put his hand up and asked, "did you know the four founders of Hogwarts?"

She nodded, "indeed I did little one. I met Salazar first, I was visiting relatives in India when I met him. He was studying with the Nagas, one of my relatives adored him, she had long lost her ability to have children. She later asked the elders of the temple if she might adopt him as her child. They agreed provided he gave his consent for it."

Daphne put her hand up and asked, "adopt him?"

Belinda nodded, "yes, a Lamia will sometimes adopt a human as a child. The adopted child doesn't become a lamia but they do gain some traits from the parent lamia."

Theodore asked, "like what? What sort of abilities do they get?"

Belinda laughed, "that varies from adoption to adoption. However one constant is the ability to speak the mother tongue of the lamia. Some of the ones adopted by a basilisk Lamia will on occasions have the stare of it, others will have it's venom and yet others will have skin impervious to magical attacks."

Blaise frowned and asked, "did Lord Slytherin have the ability to speak Parseltongue before he was adopted by the Lamia?"

Belinda shook her head, "nay he did not. He gained the ability after the adoption, and though he did not gain her murderous stare he did gain a rather frightful one. He also was immune to a curse that had been developed by a wizard who had studied the basilisks stare. I believe the incantation to the spell was Avada Kedavra," at that the class gaped at her.

One of the girls said faintly, "Lord Slytherin was immune to the Killing Curse."

Belinda nodded, and Dean asked, "so you met the other four founders. What were they like?"

She chuckled and said, "Lady Ravenclaw was rather interesting, a bit studious but rather interesting as a whole. Always wanting to learn, she kept asking me questions about the past and the area's I had been to. Lady Hufflepuff was a kind woman but heaven help you if you made her angry, she had a terrible temper, her husband was just about the only one who could calm it." She laughed at the remembrance of an enemy angering the fiery red haired woman. She then added, "much like how Lord Slytherin was the only one who could soothe Lord Gryffindor's temper."

The class gaped at her, but before they could ask more questions the bell rang and they groaned, however Hagrid said something that perked them up. "Don't worry Belinda's agreed to come back for the next three lessons to let you ask as many questions as you want."

The class whooped and after saying goodbye to the lamia walked back to the castle discussing the lesson. For once not even the Slytherins could complain about one of Hagrid's lessons.


	29. Chapter 28: OWL Exams

Chapter Twenty-Eight: OWL Exams

For the next three weeks, the Care of Magical Creatures classes had the benefit of talking to a being that had known their founders personally. To the surprise of the Slytherins she had spoken of a descendant of Slytherin who could never claim heir ship since all those of his line were disowned due to their line beginning via line theft.

She had waved her hand and said, "some brat by the name of Gaunt had dared to commit line theft. Salazar's chosen heir was his great-granddaughter Ophelia Turk nee Slytherin. Her sons name was Harlen, I believe he married a young woman by the name of Emena Isidore. Their sons name was Donovan and he married a Blake Blackburn, their sons name was Gaius who married a Coretta Ashton, they had a son by the name of Artur who married a Kingsley Burn. Artur and Kingsley named their son Cadmus, now out of the request of the family I will not mention the last name of the woman that Cadmus married since he decided to take her name to keep her and her descendants safe."

The Slytherin's muttered wondering who the dark lord was descended of if the Gaunts weren't the heirs of Slytherins. If Voldemort was the descendant of the Gaunts then their parents were being made fools and they wondered who the other lines heir was, since Belinda had said, "oh, there are currently two descendants of Cadmus Turk. I've met both, although I have met the descendant of the Gaunt line I didn't like him much." She had snorted and said, "he had the nerve to believe just because he could speak Parseltongue I had to obey him."

Of course one fact that Belinda didn't mention was to be the descendant of Salazar, you also had to be the descendant of Gryffindor. And there was only one family who could claim a direct relationship to Lord Gryffindor.

The castle grounds had gleamed in the sunlight as though freshly painted; the cloudless sky smiled at itself in the smooth sparkling lake; the satin green lawns had rippled occasionally in a passing gentle breeze. June had arrived upon them, but to the fifth year students, this meant only one thing: their OWLs were upon them.

The Professors were no longer setting them homework; lessons were devoted to revising the topics that the Professors thought most likely to come up in the exams. Even James Potter, who was normally a relaxed person was driving them hard. The purposeful, yet feverish atmosphere drove nearly everything but the OWLs from the students minds, though Kushina had still pushed the S.A.C. students into the ground. As she had told them, "this is a voluntary class. If you don't want to be here then don't come."

Even after being told this most of the students continued to attend the classes.

Hermione was always muttering and going over her notes, she wasn't the only person acting oddly as the OWLs drew steadily nearer. Ernie Macmillan had developed an irritating habit of interrogating people about their revision practices. The first time he'd done that to Kushina, she'd answered without thinking. But having him constantly asking was beginning to annoy her and everyone knew what happened when you annoyed Kushina, she would get even.

Malfoy had tried to spread panic by saying, "of course, it's not what you know," he was overheard to tell Crabbe and Goyle loudly outside of potions a few days before the exams were to start. "It's who you know. Now, Father's been friendly with the head of the Wizarding Examinations Authority, for years - old Griselda March banks - we've had her around for dinner and everything…"

When a few people wanted to start panicking Kushina had snorted, "I highly doubt that's true, or else how would Percy Weasley had gotten twelve OWLs." She had rolled her eyes and after a small glare at Malfoy threatened him, "don't make me go get Astoria, Malfoy!" Malfoy had gulped and quickly shut up about the exams.

Meanwhile, a flourishing black-market trade in aids to concentration, mental agility and wakefulness had sprung up among the fifth and seventh years. Kushina had come across someone being tempted by a bottle of Baruffio's Brain Elixir being offered by Ravenclaw sixth year, Eddie Carmichael. Who was swearing that it was the sole thing responsible for his nine 'Outstanding' OWLs, he had gained last summer, he was offering a whole pint for a mere twelve Galleons. Several were trying to get the money to buy it when Kushina had snatched it out of his hand and assigned him detention for endangering his fellow students. She had ripped him a new one for trying to cheat younger years out of their money.

When several of the students had tried to protest about her pouring it down the drain, she snarled at them, "you might as well take Harold Dingle's powdered Dragon claw and have done with it."

One of the boys said eagerly, "Dingle's got powdered dragon claw?"

She sneered and said, "not anymore he doesn't. I confiscated that as well. None of these things actually work you know, it's like those talismans during my second year all over again!"

One of the Hufflepuffs retorted, "dragon claw does work! It's supposed to be incredible, really gives your brain a boost, you come over all cunning for a few hours… Come on Kushina, let us have a pinch, go on, what could it hurt?"

"This stuff could," she said grimly, "I had a look at it, it's nothing more than dried Doxy droppings."

That information took the edge off the listening students desire for brain stimulants.

They received their examination timetables and details for the procedure for OWLs during their next Transfiguration lesson.

"As you can see," Professor Potter told the class as they copied down the dates and times of the exams from the blackboard, "your OWLs are spread over two successive weeks. You will sit any theoretical exams in the morning and the practical's in the afternoon. Your practical Astronomy exam will of course take place at night."

As he spoke he was pacing in front of his desk, "now I must warn you that the most stringent anti-cheating charms have been applied to your examination papers. Auto-Answer quills are banned from the examination hall, as are Remembralls, Detachable Cribbing Cuffs and Self-Correcting Ink. It would seem that every year seems to harbor at least one person who thinks she or he could get around the Wizarding Examinations Authority's rules." He looked around and said, "not even a group of jokesters had tried to cheat on these exams." He then smiled wryly and said, "and you can ask Professor McGonagall about the Marauders and their antics, she'll tell you that she would have sworn up and down that they'd be the ones of their years to try and cheat."

He sighed a little and said, "however, you will just have to do your very best. You have your own futures to think about…"

Hermione put her hand in the air, and after the Professor acknowledged her, she asked, "when do we find out about our results?"

"An owl will be sent out to you some time in July," he said.

"Excellent," Dean Thomas muttered in an audible whisper, "so we don't have to worry about it until the holidays."

Kushina ignored the mutters, she knew very well even if they thought they wouldn't fret about it they would.

The first examination was Theory of Charms, and it was scheduled for the morning of June the tenth, which was a Monday. Kushina had agreed to test Hermione after lunch on the Sunday before the exam. She regretted it almost at once; Hermione was agitated and kept snatching the book back from her to check that she had gotten the answer completely correct, finally hitting her hard on the nose with the sharp edge of the Achievements in Charming.

Kushina got so tired of it she called Kenpachi and told him to get his behind to Hogwarts and kiss Hermione senseless. That was one order that Kenpachi was happy to follow, Kenpachi had strode into the hall picked Hermione up by the waist and said, "we'll see you later," before he turned around and left the Hall.

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Meanwhile, Ron was reading two years worth of Charms notes with his fingers in his ears, his lips moving soundlessly; Seamus Finnigan was lying flat on his back on the floor of the common room, reciting the definition of a Substantive Charm while Dean checked it against the Standard Book of Spells, Grade 5. While Parvati and Lavender were practicing basic Locomotion Charms on their pencil-cases by making them race against each other around the edge of the table.

Dinner that night was a subdued affair that night, Kushina and Ron didn't talk much, but were eating with a gusto, having studied hard all day. Hermione, on the other hand, kept putting down her knife and fork to dive under the table for her bag, seizing a book to check some fact or figure. Kushina had just snapped at Hermione to put the books away or she'd call Kenpachi again when her fork had slid from her limp fingers and landed with a loud tinkle on her plate.

"Oh, my goodness," she said faintly while staring into the Entrance hall. "Is that them? Is that the Examiners?"

Kushina and Ron whipped around on their bench, through the doors to the Great Hall they could see Professor Dumbledore standing with a small group of ancient-looking wizards and witches. Professor Dumbledore looked exceedingly calm and unworried he was actually unwrapping a lemon drop as he spoke to them.

Kushina smirked at her best friends and said slyly, "shall we go and have a closer look? I need to speak with the Headmaster anyway."

Ron and Hermione nodded and the three hastened towards the double doors into the Entrance Hall, slowing down as they stepped over the threshold, where Ron and Hermione walked sedately past the examiners while Kushina stopped to speak with the Headmaster.

The examiners looked up to see a young girl standing before them, Albus looked up and said "yes, Kushina. What can I do for you?"

Kushina smiled at him and said, "I just thought I'd ask if you wanted me to have the students tested for their prowess in Shinigami Arts?"

Albus hummed, "well my dear that would be up to you. Do they need to be tested?"

Kushina cocked her head to the side and said, "not really. Most of the stuff would come with practice it'll be their choice to keep up with the studying after they graduate and the other years will have to make the choice to show up next year."

A tiny, stooped witch with a face so lined it looked as though it was draped with cobwebs looked at Albus and asked, "who is this Albus?" She spoke very loudly considering they were only a few feet apart.

Kushina gave her a short curtsey and said, "Kushina Ruri Potter-Lupin. I've been teaching the Fourth through Seventh years a particular brand of magic that I learned as a child." She then said sweetly, "if the examiners would like I could give a demonstration of what they've been learning."

One of the wizards answered, "if you would like to show us after the exams are through that would be fine."

Kushina smiled and said, "no problem. I usually spar with a friend on Saturdays but I think I can convince him to wait until Sunday."

Kushina gave them a short nod and walked up to Ron and Hermione where they had been waiting at the foot of the stairs. As she walked away she heard Madam Marchbanks tell Headmaster Dumbledore, "the journey was fine. We've made it plenty of times before."

The trio then heard as the Headmaster said while giving them a twinkling glance, "let's go to the staff room. I'm sure you'd like a cup of tea after such a long journey."

It was an uncomfortable sort of an evening, everyone was trying to do some last-minute revising but nobody seemed to be getting very far. Kushina on the other hand, was lying in front of the fire reading one of her Icha Icha books. After three chapters she got up and went to her rooms and got ready for bed, falling to sleep after a few hours of sleepless tossing and turning.

None of the fifth years talked very much that morning at breakfast, either; Parvati was practicing incantations under her breath while the salt shaker in front of her twitched; Hermione was reading Achievements in Charming so fast that her eyes appeared blurred while Neville kept dropping his knife and fork, as well as knocking over the marmalade. Kushina was the only one calm in the Hall, she was again reading volume four of Icha Icha Paradise, she actually giggled at one of the parts, causing the rest of the hall to look at her weirdly.

Once breakfast was over, the fifth and seventh years milled around the Entrance Hall while the rest of the students went off to their lessons; then at half past nine, they were all called forward class by class to re-enter the Great Hall. The four tables had been removed and replaced with many tables for one, all of them were facing the staff end of the Hall where Professor McGonagall stood facing them. When they were all seated and quiet, she said, "you may begin," and turned over an enormous hour-glass on the desk beside her, on which were also spare quills, ink bottles and rolls of parchment.

Kushina turned over her paper, her heart thumping hard, she had been able to project an air of being completely unworried but she was still nervous. Three rows to her left and four seats ahead, Hermione was already scribbling, so she lowered her eyes to the first question: a.) Give the incantation and b) describe the wand movement required to make objects fly.

She had a fleeting memory of a club soaring high into the air and landing loudly on the thick skull of a troll, she smiled slightly and bent over the paper, beginning to write, she knew the answer to this question like the blades of her swords.

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"Well, it wasn't too bad, was it?" Hermione asked anxiously in the Entrance Hall two hours later, still clutching the exam paper. "I'm not sure I did myself justice on the Cheering charms, I just ran out of time. Did you put the counter-charm for hiccoughs? I wasn't sure whether I ought to, it felt like too much…And on question twenty-three…"

"Hermione," Ron interrupted sternly, "we've been over this before…we're not going through every exam afterwards, it's bad enough doing them once."

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The fifth years ate lunch with the rest of the school, (the four house tables had reappeared for the lunch hour,) then they trooped off into the small side chamber of the Great Hall. Whereupon they waited to be called for their practical examination, as small groups of students were called in alphabetical order those left behind muttered incantations and practiced wand movement. Well all except for Hermione, Ron, Neville and Kushina, Kushina had once again pulled out the gaudy orange book that caused so many to glance at her oddly.

Hermione's name came first, trembling she left the chamber with Anthony Goldstein, Gregory Goyle, and Daphne Greengrass. Students who had already been tested didn't return afterwards so the three didn't know how Hermione had done

"She'll be fine, remember she got a hundred and twelve percent on our first year charms test." Ron reminded the rest of the Gryffindors waiting.

Ten minutes later, Professor Flitwick called, "Parkinson, Pansy - Patil, Padma - Patil, Parvati - Potter-Lupin, Kushina."

"Good luck," Ron said quietly, Kushina gave him a small smile and a nod before she walked into the Great Hall.

"Professor Tofty is free, Potter," squeaked out Professor Flitwick, who was standing just inside the door. He pointed Kushina towards what looked like the very oldest and baldest examiner who was sitting behind a small table in the far corner, a short distance away from Professor Marchbanks, who was halfway through testing Draco Malfoy.

"Potter, is it?" said Professor Tofty, consulting his notes and peering over his pince-nez at her as she approached. "The famous Potter?"

Out of the corner of her eye, Kushina noticed as Malfoy threw her a scathing look; the wine glass Malfoy had been levitating fell to the floor and smashed. Kushina couldn't suppress her smile; Professor Tofty smiled back at her encouragingly.

"That's it," he said in his quivering old voice, "no need to be nervous. Now if I could ask you to take this egg cup and make it do some cartwheels for me."

On the whole, Kushina thought it went rather well, her Levitation Charm was certainly much better than Malfoy's had been. Though she wished silently that she hadn't mixed up the incantations for the Color Change and Growth Charms, the rat she was supposed to turn orange ended up the size of a badger before she could correct her mistake. She was glad that Hermione wasn't in the Hall at the time and neglected to mention it to her afterwards. She told Ron though, as he had caused a dinner plate to mutate into a large mushroom and had no idea how that had even happened.

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There was no time to relax that night; they all went straight to the common room after dinner and submerged themselves in revision for Transfiguration, Kushina went to bed with her head buzzing with complex spell models and theories.

She had forgotten the definition of a Switching Spell during her written paper the next morning but felt that her practical could have been a lot worse. She had never shown the same aptitude for Transfiguration as her Dad, she more than followed her Papa in being good at Defense Against the Dark Arts. But at least she had managed to vanish the whole of her iguana, whereas poor Hannah Abbott lost her head completely at the next table and somehow managed to multiply her ferret into a flock of flamingos. Which caused the whole exam to be halted for ten minutes while the birds were captured and carried out of the Hall.

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On Wednesday they had their Herbology exam, and other than a small bite from a Fanged Geranium, Kushina felt she had done rather well; then on Thursday was Defense Against the Dark Arts. Kushina knew that she had passed this test, she had no problem with any of the written questions and took great pleasure in the practical exam, performing all of the counter-jinxes and defensive spells. Remus watching from near the doors into the Entrance Hall was suppressing his proud grin as best as he could.

"Oh, bravo!" cried Professor Tofty, who was examining Kushina again, when she demonstrated a perfect Boggart banishing spell. She had glanced up at her Papa who winked at her. "Very good indeed! Well, I think that's all, Potter…unless…"

He leaned forwards a little.

"I heard, from my dear friend Tiberius Ogden, that you can produce a Patronus? For a bonus point…?"

Kushina nodded then raised her wand, looked directly at Professor Lupin and remembered what it was like to find her Dad alive.

"Expecto Patronum!"

Her silver stag erupted from the end of her wand and cantered the length of the Hall. All of the examiners looked to watch its progress, to their surprise it actually bellowed a challenge as it stood in the center of the Hall. When it finally dissolved into mist Professor Tofty clapped his veined and knotted hands enthusiastically.

"Excellent!" he said. "Very nicely done, Potter, you may go!"

As Kushina passed Remus he leaned over and said, "well done, cub." She glanced over at him and when their eyes met, twinkling gold eyes met dancing gold eyes, he grinned at her. She grinned back, because unless she was very much mistaken, (although she didn't plan on telling anyone, in case she was,) she had just received an 'Outstanding' OWL in DADA.

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On Friday, Hermione had convinced the pair to attempt the Ancient Runes exam, even if they didn't pass. Kushina looked down at the paper and was thinking to herself, '_so all I have to do is translate these runes? Huh, this should be somewhat easy to do, I mean Hermione did make me and Ron study with her this year.'_

On the paper it said, translate the following runes:

The first rune was one that looked like an arrow pointing up; Kushina recognized it as Tiwaz, or at least she thought that was it's name. She was sure that it stood for justice and balance however. The second rune looked almost like a trident or a three pronged pitchfork, she was almost certain its name was Algiz and that it stood for Defense and warding off evil.

The third rune resembled the letter p and she was absolutely certain that this was Wunjo, the rune that meant joy and wishes. While the fourth rune looked like an S, she knew very well what this rune was, it was Sowilo and it meant victory.

After the test was over, Hermione was annoyed and frustrated, Ron asked, "what's wrong?"

"I mistranslated Ehwas," she said furiously. "It means partnership not defense, I mixed it up with Eihwaz."

"Ah, well," Ron tried to comfort her, "that's only one mistake isn't it, you'll still get…"

"Oh, shut up!" Hermione cut him off angrily. "It could be the one mistake that means the difference between a pass and a fail." Hermione who seemed determined to stay in a towering temper, swept off toward the girls dormitories, slamming the door behind her.

"Such a lovely, sweet-tempered girl, she is," said Ron very quietly. As he prodded his queen forward to beat up one of Kushina's knights, he asked, "can you get Kenpachi to come by soon to calm her down?"

Kushina looked of toward the girls dorm and said, "I don't know but I'll certainly try."

Hermione's bad mood persisted until Kenpachi had been able to come by and whisk her away for three hours, returning her very much mellow and relaxed. For which the entire tower breathed a sigh of relief as before he came to get her, Hermione had gotten so bad she had already gotten on to the first years for giggling too loud in the common room.

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Kushina and Ron spent most of Saturday and Sunday revising for Potions on Monday, it had been an exam that most of the school dreaded, wondering if Professor Lily Potter's teachings would be enough to give them a passing grade.

The written paper was a bit difficult, though she did think that she might get full marks on the question concerning Polyjuice Potion; as her and Ron could describe it's effects very well. Having taken it illegally in their second year, they could describe its effects to an alarming degree.

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The afternoon practical was not at all dreadful as they had been expecting it to be. With not having Snape breathing down their necks most of the students were able to concentrate on their potions. Each student was given a different potion to make and the ingredients were already at their stations, shielding charms were cast on each area so that no one could mess up another persons potion on purpose.

Kushina stared down at her potion, she recognized it right off the bat, as it was already slightly prepared for her. She noticed that the cauldron had stewed lacewing flies in it, she had by some odd coincidence gotten the Polyjuice Potion. She added two leeches to the stewed lacewing flies before adding a handful of knotgrass. She let it simmer for three hours, after the three hours were up, Kushina had read her book while waiting for the potion to finish simmering. She then added the fluxweed to the potion before she added the powdered bicorn horn. Next came the boomslang skin, she then signaled the examiner that she was finished.

Professor Marchbanks said, "alright dear, we'll test it out in a minute, just keep it simmering for now." She then stepped away from Kushina and announced, "step away from your cauldron's please, the examination is over." After the students had poured the potions into their sample flasks, Professor Marchbanks poured an amount of Kushina's potion into a glass and asked the class for a volunteer.

Hermione stepped forward, Madam Marchbanks plucked a strand of hair from Kushina's head, Kushina didn't even flinch. She'd been cut, stabbed and strangled, having her hair pulled wasn't going to kill her. Madam Marshbanks dropped the strand of hair into the potion sample and the sample turned into the same color gold as her eyes.

The examiner then handed the glass to Hermione and said, "drink this dear."

Hermione looked down at it and quipped, "well at least you look appetizing Kushina."

Kushina rolled her eyes and said sarcastically, "yay, my greatest wish in life has been fulfilled, I'm appetizing."

Hermione gulped down the potion and after it was all gone she doubled over and grabbed her stomach. To the shock of the students watching they saw Hermione's brown bushy hair become blood red with golden streaks while her brown eyes changed to gold. Hermione blinked slightly while looking around before she remarked, "wow, Kushina you're really blind without your glasses." Thankfully there wasn't much differences in their heights so Hermione wasn't tripping over her own robes, though her shoes were just a hair too loose. Hermione didn't bother changing clothes, as she said, "what would be the point? I'd just have to change back in an hour anyway."

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"Only four exams left," Parvati Patil said wearily while they all walked back to Gryffindor tower after dinner. Hermione had changed back half way through dinner.

"Only!" Hermione said snappishly. "I've got Arithmancy and it's probably the toughest subject there is!"

As nobody was foolish enough to snap back at her, she was unable to vent her spleen on any of them and was reduced to yelling at the twins when they were entertaining the first years. Hermione had again convinced Kushina and Ron to take an exam for a class they didn't even attend so when the Arithmancy exam came around all three took it. Ron said as they exited the classroom, "if I pass that test it'll be a miracle."

The same afternoon was the Care of Magical Creatures exam, the trio were determined to do well so as to not let Hagrid down. The practical exam was held right on the lawn at the edge of the Forbidden Forest, where students were required to correctly identify the Knarl hidden among a dozen hedgehogs, (the trick was to offer them all milk in turn: Knarls go berserk at what they see as an attempt to poison them;) then demonstrate correct handling of a Bowtruckle; feed and clean out a Fire Crab without sustaining serious burns; and finally choose, from a wide selection of food, the diet they would give a sick Unicorn.

Kushina could see Hagrid watching anxiously out of his cabin window. When Kushina's examiner, a plump little witch this time, smiled at her and told her that she could leave, she gave him a thumbs up before heading back to the castle.

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The Astronomy theory paper on Wednesday morning went well enough, Kushina was not all that convinced that she got the names of all of Jupiter's moons right, but she was fairly confident that none of them was inhabited by mice. They had to wait until evening for their practical Astronomy exam so the afternoon was devoted to Divination instead.

Even by Kushina's low standards in Divination, the exam went very badly. She might as well have tried to see moving pictures on the desktop as in the stubbornly blank crystal ball; she lost her head completely during the tea-leaf reading, saying to her that it looked like Madam Marshbanks would be meeting a short, soggy, round dark stranger and rounded off the whole fiasco by mixing up the life and head lines on her palm and informing her that she ought to have died the previous Tuesday.

"Well, we always knew we were going to fail that one anyway," Ron commented as they ascended the marble staircase. He had just made Kushina feel better by telling him how he had told the examiner in detail about the ugly man with a wart on his nose in his crystal ball only to look up and realize that he was describing his examiner's reflection.

"We really shouldn't have taken the stupid subject in the first place," Kushina muttered.

"Still, at least we can give it up now," Ron said cheerfully.

"Yeah," she said. "No more pretending we care what happens when Jupiter and Uranus get too friendly."

"And from now on, I don't care if my tea-leaves spell, 'die, Ron, die' I'm just chucking them in the bin, where they belong." Ron said viciously. Kushina laughed at his antics just as they walked in the common room to find Hermione going over her star charts.

She looked up and asked, "so how did it go?"

Kushina and Ron looked at each other and chorused, "don't ask."

Hermione laughed, she was finally starting to relax as the end of the exams was upon them, they only had two more days to go before they were finished with them. She shook her head and said, "come on we got just enough time to have a quick look over of our star charts before dinner."

When they reached the top of the Astronomy tower at eleven o'clock, the students found a perfect night for stargazing, cloudless and still. The grounds were bathed in silvery moonlight, there was a slight chill in the air. Each of them set up their telescopes and when Professor Marchbanks gave the word began filling in the blank star chart they had been given.

Professor Marchbanks and Tofty strolled among them, watching as they entered the precise positions of the stars and planets they were observing. All was quiet except for the rustle of parchment, the occasional creak of a telescope as it was adjusted on its stand, and the scribbling of may quills. Half an hour passed then an hour; little squares of reflected gold light that flickered on the ground below started to vanish as the lights in the castle windows were extinguished.

An hour afterward the Astronomy Practical was over with and the students trudged down to their common rooms.

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The next day was History of Magic, it was only a written and was to be taken in the afternoon due to how late the Astronomy Exam was held.

Kushina answered the questions as best as she could but much like the rest of the class, however almost all of them were sure none of them had gotten an 'Outstanding' on the test. Well that is except for the Ravenclaws, the history fanatics and Hermione.

The day after the History of Magic exam was the Muggle Studies exam, again Hermione convinced Ron and Kushina to take a test to a class they didn't even attend. Kushina stared down at the exam and thought to herself, _'this is the test? This is what some people have a hard time passing? Are they idiots!'_ She noticed Ron had much the same expression on his face, then again he did spend part of the summer in a muggle house, so he did learn most of this stuff on his own.

She sighed but gamely began to answer the questions.

**Muggle Studies Exam**

_Kushina Ruri Potter-Lupin, Gryffindor Fifth Year_

**1.) What is a Telephone?** A muggle device that enables you to use the buttons to call a specific person. It is similar to Floo Calling but without being able to see the other person.

**2.) What is a toaster?** A device Muggles use to toast bread.

**3.) What is a fridge? **Similar to a cooling cabinet, muggles invented a device to keep food cool so it will not spoil.

**4.) What is a freezer? **A muggle invention that allows food to be frozen, thus allowing muggles to store food longer.

**5.) What is a VCR?** A device to play Video Cassettes, which is like a cross between a pensive and a magical photo.

**6.) Television? **A device you use in conjunction with the VCR to watch Video cassettes if you do not have one then the VCR is useless.

**7.) Cable? **Similar to Video Cassettes but you only need a Television to watch it.

**8.) how do Muggles send mail? **Other muggles deliver the mail to your home, or wherever you have addressed the mail. Only one stamp is necessary to send a single letter.

**9.) what purpose does a Rubber Duck serve?** Muggles give them to their children to play with while in the bath. Most muggles stop playing with Rubber Ducks after turning eight or before then.

**10.) What is a bicycle?** It is a device built by muggles to transport a single person, a bicycle has two wheels, of which the back one is connected by chain to a pair of pedals that you use to move the bike forward or backward. The front wheel is connected to bar leading up to a set of handles thus allowing you to control where the bike goes.

**11.) List Five Muggle Sports: **Baseball, Rugby, Football, Basketball, and Hockey.

**12.) describe the proper way to dress in the muggle world: **Men wear pants and a shirt, depending upon their job is how well they dress. If they have a business job, then they usually dress in a suit. Women can wear a dress or a skirt and blouse, or even wear pants and a shirt. Children dress much like an adult does, however they tend to wear jeans and a tee shirt. But some girls prefer to wear dresses, blouses and skirts to jeans and a shirt.

**13.) Describe in your own words what a movie is. **See question number five.

**14.) List Five common buildings in Muggle towns.** Library, Police Station, Fire station, Court house and Jail.

**15.) List Five Wizards or Witches known to muggles: **Merlin, Morgana, Circe, Claudius Ptolemy, and Nicolas Flamel.

She turned the paper over and sat back to wait for the examiner to declare the test over, which they did ten minutes later. As the trio walked out of the classroom, Ron said, "that wasn't very hard at all."

Hermione nodded and commented, "that's one reason I dropped the class. I mean I already knew the stuff they were teaching, a muggleborn or muggle raised child grows up knowing all of this."

The Exam had been held early in the morning so the trio was free for the rest of the day, Hermione decided to head to the library to look up something. Ron went to go read his book series and Kushina wandered around for a while before she decided to go see Sirius. He had been cooped up inside his and Severus quarters while the exams were taking place, the excuse the teachers had given the students was due to the age of the examiners they didn't want to frighten them to death by seeing a dog that greatly resembled a grim. As she walked down the hallway to the dungeon she remembered a conversation the trio had with Sirius.

Sirius was eight months pregnant and although he was showing throughout the months of the pregnancy, he had only truly started showing in the last month. Hermione had asked him why, he told her that, "all male pregnancies stay at a certain point of the body until about four to five weeks before the child is ready to come out of the mother. In other words Hermione, the kids merely announcing that it'll be wanting out soon."

Ron had blanched at that and said, "I'm grateful that I'm interested in a girl. No offense Sirius but I just couldn't see how I would be able to cope with being pregnant."

Sirius had laughed and said, "none taken, I think Severus is more panicked then I am. But you can tell he's excited as well, I think he'd completely given up on being a father. Most of the people who are in Azkaban for a long time, they end up infertile. At least that what the medical scans show anyway." He had shrugged but showed them the nursery which was decorated with a savannah theme, it didn't have paintings of animals but just the grassy plain and the fathomless sky.

Sirius had shrugged and said, "after spending twelve years in a gray cell. I figured freedom would be the best theme to have."

Since neither of the men had wanted to know the sex of the child until it was born, everyone had gifted them with neutral colored baby clothing and other items. All of the stuffed animals were boy and girl friendly. All of the animagus had gotten or made stuffed animals of their animal forms, James's stag was next to Remus' wolf. While Sirius's dog was next to Severus's lion. While the trio's animagus' forms were sitting on a shelf above the crib. The crib had all of the animals carved in it, but there was a blank spot on the center of the headboard of it, when asked about it Severus had said, "that's where the baby's name will go after it's born."

When questioned on it Severus had just muttered, "we'll just carve another when we have the next baby."

Sirius had been surprised that Severus wanted another after this one, Kushina on the other hand just smiled knowingly, she didn't bother to tell them that the next one would be carried by Severus and not until their first was five years old. She decided against telling them that their first would be rather mischievous and have a rather strange partner in pranks. Let her godfathers figure it out on their own, after all surprises are what make life fun.

She shook herself out of her reverie and knocked on the guardian portraits frame, when the guardian appeared she gave it the password. She knew that Severus was busy teaching the sixth years so Sirius would be alone in their quarter. Sirius came out of the nursery, and said, "hey kiddo. What brings you down here?"

She smiled impishly, "what? Can't a godchild come visit her godfather without having an outside motive?" She asked teasingly.

Sirius hummed and said, "let me think… Nope!" With that he let her in, and the pair shut the door behind them.


	30. Chapter 29: Mental Attacks & Surprises

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Of Mental Attacks and Surprises

Later that night in a secluded location, a red eyed snake faced man was pacing angrily, nothing he had tried worked. He just couldn't seem to get into the Potter Brat's head, how was he supposed to get her to go to the ministry and retrieve the Prophecy if he couldn't send her any false visions. He roared at Wormtail earlier to get out and leave him alone.

He then decided to try one more time to break into her mind.

* * *

At Hogwarts Kushina had been sleeping for a few hours when in her inner world, Anubis and Thanatos frowned. Thanatos sighed and said, "there he goes again. You'd think after all the times he failed before he'd just give up on it."

Thanatos gestured to a door that was being pounded on from the other side, Anubis sighed and nodded, "yes, you would think so."

They turned and looked at each other before grinning viciously, and Thanatos asked, "are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

Anubis said wickedly, "if you're thinking about letting him in, then chasing him around and not letting him escape for a while. Then yes, I'm thinking what you're thinking!" As one they turned to the door then Thanatos waved his right hand and let the door open after they hid.

Voldemort stalked into the area, when he saw the area he blinked, and said aloud, "the Potter Brats mind is a very weird place."

The he heard a loud slam from behind him, he spun around to find that the door he had come in through now had bars across it. It would seem he wouldn't be exiting the way he came, he then heard a pair of wicked laughs and in the darkness around him he could see dozens of yellow eyes.

Far beyond where he could see he could hear vicious snarls and yipping, although he would never admit it he was beginning to get scared. Voldemort didn't know it but he had landed in what amounted to the Forest of Death, a place that very few Shinobi ever train in on a regular basis, Kushina had been one of the few who did.

The first defense of Kushina's mind were her Zanpakuto spirits, the secondary were the very terrain of her mind, the third defense was the memory of Konoha's ANBU. Since she trained them she knew their moves, their preferred methods of attack. The very last defense of her inner world was the imprint Kyuubi had left on her soul. The Demon Fox had liked his host enough that when he had been pulled from her, he was determined to leave a way to find her again.

He somewhat saw her as his kit, she had only been a child when she had become his host, both of them had time to settle into their roles in each other's life. Kushina was the jail and the jailer, Kyuubi was both her prisoner and her burden. However over the years she carried him, they had started to see each other as friends, at the very least a confidant, Kyuubi knew there was no way she'd ever release him from the seal.

The first defense of her inner world was almost passive, Anubis and Thanatos could decided how much of a threat they would make to the invader. They could also, as they did in this instance, let the intruder into the mind, the pair only did that when they had laid a trap for the intruder.

Normally Voldemort would be about to run into the first trap, Anubis's Jackal Army, the sands that guarded the desert surrounding the forest was where the Jackal's awaited until Anubis commanded them to rise. The forest surrounding the village proper was not the actual forest that surrounded the real village but a larger combined version of the Forest of Death and the Forbidden Forest.

Both spirits grinned viciously, they knew that Voldemort was frightened of death, so what better way to frighten him than to see a pair of death gods. With that in mind, Thanatos pulled a cloak on and brought the hood of it over his head, all that you could see of him was his hands which he charmed to look like bones. He carried his sword self in shikai, while Anubis changed to his jackal headed form, he skipped carrying his sword self around, instead choosing to lengthen his fingernails into talons.

The pair allowed Voldemort to wander the forest unmolested, they were in the trees completely out of sight even if Voldemort looked up, which he never did. Voldemort noticed the large village with its huge wall for it's defense, he sneered and said aloud, "so the potter brat knows occlumency. Clearly the Brat doesn't know it well enough, or the brat wouldn't have left her defenses so obvious."

As he continued walking he kept digging himself a deeper grave with his muttering, Anubis and Thanatos bared their teeth and snarled silently when he said, "it's too bad that the girl wouldn't ever join me. She'd make a terrific broodmare."

Both Zanpakuto looked at each other darkly, their expressions saying it all, 'over our dead bodies, you will.' Thanatos cocked his head to the right, he silently asked his partner, 'should we activate the third defense now or wait?'

Anubis signaled him to wait for it, they wanted the dark lord to be in the heart of the trap before springing it. Kushina had built her minds defenses carefully yet subconsciously, although it would seem as if her mind was unprotected. A hidden village has many ways to defend its civilians, the hidden village was built to accommodate the habits of its Shinobi protectors. Shinobi lived alongside civilians, besides Voldemort would never consider a twelve year old a threat.

More fool him, but it did work in their advantage, Kushina had based the village on Konoha physically but unlike Konoha, her village didn't have civilians in it, every person in her third defense were all based on certain members of the Shinobi forces of Konoha. She had even included summons in her defense, Sakumo Hatake was one of the people she based her defenses on, his wolves lurked in the woods, while Kakashi and his dogs played in the village along with Itachi.

* * *

Not many in the village had known that Crimson Blade and the White Fang of Konoha knew each other well enough to be close friends. It had hurt her when Kakashi had started covering his face when he could no longer bear to see how much he resembled his father. She had always hated how the village drove Sakumo to suicide simply so his son wouldn't suffer the villages hate.

His death had been a wake up call for the village, the Hokage had told the village that due to their actions Konoha was down one of the best Shinobi they had. He had added that he hoped the loss of Konoha's white fang would lose them the war. So her adding his likeness to her defenses was just her way of honoring her old friend.

Only Minato and a few others had known of their friendship before Sakumo's death, he had been on a mission during the time that Sakumo had committed suicide while Kushina had stayed to train Kakashi in a certain move, he had been surprised to find her sobbing. Kushina had ended up babbling to him about how she had just been to see him, to tell him that she stood by him and always would and that if she'd been the one running the mission she would have made the same choice he did. She ended up in his arms asking him why her friend thought death was the only way of paying for a choice that was the right one. A war can be won, but lives lost can never be brought back. After that night the Village learned just how close the two had been when she had ended up wearing a symbol of a white fang boldly on her left shoulder instead of the Uzumaki spiral, she had refused to remove it even upon the Hokage's request.

* * *

The pair waited in anticipation until Voldemort had reached the Hokage Tower then they dropped down behind him and Thanatos rasped out, "where do thy think thee are going?" Voldemort spun around and his eyes widened in shock at seeing the grim reaper and a Jackal headed man standing behind him. The Jackal headed man gave a grin that seemed utterly vicious to him.

Despite how it would make him seem weak he couldn't help but gulp in fear. Voldemort tried apparating out, but he couldn't then he tried using his magic. Thanatos appeared beside him and grabbed his wand hand and said, "no thy don't. Thee will not be able to use thy magic here, for this is not thee mind and thee do not control this area."

Anubis was laughing manically in his mind, he knew how much Thanatos hated using the old way of speaking but it did present a more realistic approach to his appearance. After all who ever heard of the grim reaper using slang. Anubis decided to step in and said, "you will have to excuse my associate. I'm afraid that you've been annoying him for a while now, and both of us are rather fond of the girl child who we marked as our own. Do not be so foolish as to believe you will be able to harm her without facing our wrath."

At that, both gave a signal and activated the third defensive measure of her mind, Voldemort was surrounded by a bunch of people in masks. But the masks they wore were nothing like his Death Eaters masks, his servants masks were just plain skulls, these peoples masks looked like animals. All of the masks appeared to be snarling or just by looking at them you could tell they could seriously harm you.

Voldemort noticed that the masked people deliberately left an opening in the circle and the hooded figure said, "you better start running. Because if we catch you…you're dead!" With that he lunged at Voldemort, the dark lord ran like he never had before, barely keeping one step ahead of the vicious mob at his back. All of the sudden one of the masked figures appeared in his pathway and he had to run in a different direction. The group kept up this activity for over three hours.

Anubis and Thanatos watched from above the action and cackled in laughter while the ANBU ran Voldemort ragged. They threw Kunai and Shurikin after him wounded the invading dark lord. All while this was happening Kushina was dreaming, all of the sudden her dream changed and she was suddenly sitting in-between her Zanpakuto watching the dark lord being chased by a bunch of ANBU.

She hummed pleasantly before she commented to the pair, "this is a bit of an odd dream but, who care." She happily sat and watched, after she commented, "the only thing that would make this more entertaining is popcorn." A bag of popcorn appeared in her hands after that comment, she shrugged and went with it. Cheering on the ANBU she ate the popcorn.

A few minutes after she had joined her Zanpakuto, Anubis signaled his warriors to come and join the chase. Kushina giggled as Voldemort sped up his pace, he was screaming at the top of his lungs in terror, her eyes twinkled and she said, "I don't know if I should be enjoying this so much… Ah, who cares if I shouldn't enjoy it!"

Anubis and Thanatos trade glances over her head and laugh quietly in amusement at their mistresses sometimes dark humor and slightly sadistic nature.

After several hours of watching the entertaining sight, Kushina sat up and sighed, "oh well, it's almost time to get up. Looks like the dream will be ending soon. Mores the pity…"

When she said that Anubis and Thanatos signaled for the ANBU to chase Voldemort back to his own mind. The pair ruffled their wielders hair and said, "have a good day, Kushina-Chan!"

* * *

Voldemort woke in his own body and snarled, "that had to be a dream. There is no way Potter has that good of mental defenses." He nodded viciously to himself and bellowed, "WORMTAIL!"

The rat faced man came in the room quickly and Voldemort said, "arm." Wormtail held out his left arm and Voldemort pressed his wand to the mark summoning his Death Eaters to him. They quickly came, Voldemort wasn't expecting Severus to come since he was teaching at the moment and wouldn't be able to get away. He hadn't realized yet that Severus was no longer a death eater.

* * *

Meanwhile at Hogwarts Kushina woke up and thought to herself, _'well…that was an odd but highly entertaining dream.'_

After she woke up she decided to go visit Ichigo today, Ichigo had delivered the baby only last month and she wanted to check up on the child. She left a note to Ron and Hermione as to where she was going and asked if they could cover for her if anyone looked around for her. She knew that they would even if she didn't ask but she still preferred to ask instead of assuming.

She then summoned Thanatos' shikai and opened a portal just outside of the Eleventh Division. The members of the divisions shrieked like little girls when the portal appeared and when Kushina dropped out one of them said, "the captain ain't here!"

She gave them a disbelieving stare, "I know. I'm not here for him, I only came to visit Ichigo."

At that she shook her head and walked away, as she did that she muttered to herself, "lets see if I was Ichigo where would I be right now?" After several moments of thought she snapped her fingers together and said, "I've got it!"

With that she raced off using shunpo, the eleventh division members looked after her and one commented, "she's fast!" The rest nodded in agreement before they went back to lazing around.

* * *

Meanwhile at the Kuchiki estate, Byakuya was holding his daughter, he couldn't believe that he had a child. He remembered with amusement the reaction the Kuchiki clan council had when he announced that Ichigo Kurosaki would be staying in the estate.

They had tried to overrule his decision and make Ichigo stay elsewhere. You could have knocked them over with a feather when he had said coldly, "if you expect me to send the person who is carrying my child and heir away. You are all out of your minds!"

As he had turned away and he commented snidely, "besides. I just got Ichigo back, I'm not about to send my beloved Hisana away just because she looks different than before." As he was turned away from them he smirked and said haughtily, "besides, you don't have much to stand on since Hisana's memories are intact and don't try to deny wanting to wipe her memories of me away."

When Ichigo had heard what Byakuya had done, he had collapsed into a fit of laughter. After he had calmed down from the laughing, Ichigo used shunpo to get to the sixth division and kissed Byakuya in front of his subordinates. Byakuya had been startled and asked, "what was that for?"

Ichigo's brown eyes twinkled and he smiled at Byakuya before he said, "that was a thank you for telling off the Kuchiki clan council." Ichigo then kissed Byakuya again and said, "that however was because I felt like giving you a kiss." With that comment Ichigo had left the division and made his way to the eighth division.

To the shock of the division after Ichigo left Byakuya smiled faintly and said, "if it gets me kisses…I have to tell off the family council more often." Of course what astonished everyone the most was the mellow yet happy mood their captain was in all day.

Later when they asked Captain Ukitake about it, he had laughed and said, "back when Hisana was alive that was Byakuya's normal mood. You're merely seeing your captain being happy."

Unknown to the group of sixth division members Byakuya had heard everything and was still in a good enough mood to leave them be and not punish them for what they had asked. Of course the reason for his continued good mood might have contributed to that, Ichigo had been popping up unexpectedly all day and giving him kisses, as Ichigo had told him earlier, "because I felt like it."

He remembered the scene he had come across earlier, just before he had come across members of his division asking Jushiro Ukitake about his good mood. He came across Rukia practicing with her Zanpakuto while Ichigo was leaning against a tree watching and offering tips on the katas. He had come up just as Rukia asked Ichigo, "so are you still mad at Byakuya-Nisama?"

Byakuya had frozen in place from shock and wondered what Rukia was talking about before Senbonzakura reminded him, _**'you did tell Ichigo that you would kill Rukia yourself if the execution was stopped.'**_

Byakuya had blanched in horror, it had completely slipped his mind after finding out that Ichigo was Hisana reborn. He listened intently to Ichigo's response, Ichigo had said, "no, I'm not mad at him anymore, a bit disappointed but not mad." He winced at that, he hated disappointing Hisana and he had the feeling it'd be the same with Ichigo, despite Ichigo remembering being Hisana there was still a world of difference between them.

Ichigo had after all grew up in the modern world, Hisana had wandered the Rukongai for years searching for Rukia. In many ways there was no difference between Hisana of back then and the Ichigo he was now, however, now whenever either Rukia or Byakuya was astonished by the inventions of the living world Ichigo was slightly baffled as if puzzled as to why they were surprised.

Byakuya shook himself out of his reverie when his daughter squirmed in his arms, patting his chest. He blinked wondering why she was doing that before it dawned on him that she must be hungry and if she didn't get food soon she'd start crying. Byakuya didn't to wake Ichigo up, but he didn't have the first clue as to how to make the baby formula so he had to.

After Byakuya woke Ichigo up, Ichigo muttered about early morning feedings and husbands who don't know how to read directions. Despite the grumbling, Ichigo merely allowed their daughter to nurse quietly, after she was done Ichigo handed the child over to Byakuya and told him, "burp her."

Byakuya was used to that part of the feeding process he just didn't have the first clue how to mix the formula and he didn't want to hurt her by making it too strong or too weak. As Ichigo buttoned up the shirt that he'd taken to wearing to bed back up, he climbed out of bed and muttered, "I'll be glad to get back to normal. I like being a guy now, I don't really want to be a girl forever."

Privately Byakuya agreed with Ichigo, it felt somewhat wrong to have Ichigo be a girl. On the other hand he'd never been attracted to a man before he met Ichigo, one reason he was so hostile to Ichigo and didn't want him in the Seireitei was due to the reaction he had to the Ryoka. Finding out that Ichigo was Hisana reborn had been a relief to him, he had the same reaction when he first met Hisana, he had felt a pull toward her and when he obeyed the impulse he never once regretted it.

The pair looked up as they felt a fast approaching Reiatsu, Ichigo snorted and said, "I guess Kushina wanted to come visit mom's namesake." When the child had turned out to be a girl they had named her, Masaki Haruna Kuchiki-Kurosaki, they had decided that they would let her choose if she wanted to be the head of the Kuchiki clan.

Ichigo had later told Byakuya, "all of the kids can be raised as if they are going to be head of the clan. That way if one of them truly takes to it they can be the head, I won't force my kids to do something they hate."

Byakuya had swayed in shock, Ichigo looked at him oddly and asked, "what's with you?"

Byakuya blinked at him and asked faintly, "you want to have more?"

Ichigo frowned and said, "well yeah, don't you?"

Byakuya had nodded quickly before he attempted to explain why he was shocked, "of course I want more. I just didn't think you'd want to go through being a girl again." Especially since Ichigo had been grumbling about being a girl again and muttering that he'd been a guy for two lifetimes compared to the once as a girl.

Ichigo blinked in puzzlement and said, "I don't need to be a girl to be pregnant Byakuya. I'm a wizard, as such I can get pregnant unlike muggle men who'd have to use that bastards invention." Ichigo rolled his eyes sarcastically before walking off muttering about husbands who don't ever read the presents you get them.

That night Byakuya read the book thoroughly and discovered that Ichigo was right, several family trees had men married to one another with lines leading away. Children born from a pair were recorded with a different color than a child that was adopted, even the blood adopted ones.

The three had gone out to the gardens to wait for Kushina, who had shown up and scooped up the baby and crooned to her. After Kushina noticed how tired Ichigo was she offered them, "I can watch her for a while if the two of you want to get some rest."

Byakuya was about to object when Ichigo said, "thanks Shina-Chan." At Byakuya's questioning look Ichigo explained, "when my sisters were born both me and Kushina helped my parents out. Neither of them were expecting twins that time around," he then tugged on the part of Byakuya's bangs that stubbornly hung in his face. "So don't worry Kushina knows how to look after Masaki, she even knows how to mix the formula."

Kushina had scooped up the baby bag and after settling little Masaki in her arms she used shunpo to head over to the Ninth division to visit Kensei. Kensei had looked up from his paperwork when the door to the office was opened. He was somewhat surprised to see Kushina standing there with her cousins baby. He asked, "so why to you have the kid?" as he asked that he continued to fill out the paperwork and signing his name.

Kushina slid the baby bag to the floor and sat down on the couch with the child, she said, "Ichigo and Byakuya were exhausted. So I volunteered to take the kid off of their hands for few hours." She looked up from the baby to wink at Kensei, "besides, I could tell they needed some alone time."

Kensei shuddered and said, "don't go putting that image in my head. For heavens sake Kushina, I remember babysitting Ichigo!"

Kushina giggled and said, "get your mind out of the gutter Kensei-Nisan. I merely meant they needed to talk," she rolled her eyes before she said, "I doubt that Ichigo wants to risk being pregnant again this soon."

She looked down at the almost month old child and said, "not that it'll matter soon. Ichigo will be back in his regular body soon, and this little one will be a bit confused for a while until she figures out that mommy is still mommy."

Kensei snorted and said, "mommy will just be daddy soon."

Kushina snickered and said, "true, after all I call my parents Dad and Papa." Kensei snorted and continued with his paperwork while Kushina chattered on about how the exams were.

Two hours after she got there the baby started fussing and Kushina popped out of the room into a neighboring room to change her. After the baby was changed they came back to the office and Kushina fed little Masaki, burping her after the child gulped down the formula. Kensei shook his head and said wryly, "personally, I don't know if I'd be able to do that."

Kushina raised her eyebrow and said, "funny, I seem to recall you changing Yuzu and Karin's diapers and feeding them."

Kensei waved his hand dismissively, "not that. That I can do, I meant carry a child for nine months then give birth to it."

Kushina smiled at him and said, "I think you underestimate yourself. But does that mean the R&D department is going to keep the recipe to the drug?"

Kensei nodded, "yeah, after a lot of discussing the Head Captain decided to keep it. He said that we deserved the right to decide if we want kids. Mayuri, the sick man that he is did find a way to get pregnant by Reiatsu alone." Kensei laughed a bit then shook his head, "would you believe that Yoruichi decided to see what the drug would do if injected in a woman?"

Kushina raised her eyebrows in shock, "well in hindsight, yeah, I believe she would. So what happened?"

Kensei shrugged, "well she didn't change into a man but she's pregnant."

Kushina lightly bounced Masaki on her knee careful not to bounce her too much for her stomach to handle, after all she didn't want the baby to throw up on her. She asked curiously, "so who's the other parent of Yoruichi's baby?"

Kensei signed another request form and said, "Soi-Fon, captain of the Second Division. The two of them go way back, so I guess Yoruichi trusted her enough to inject herself around Soi-Fon and next thing we know, Yoruichi is pregnant."

Kushina snickered and asked, "how long ago was this done?"

"Not long, we only found out about Yoruichi's condition today when Soi-Fon yelled that she shouldn't be racing around in her condition. So of course the rest of us asked what condition, and Soi-Fon told us." Kensei explained while glaring down at the requisition form before stamping it with the denied stamp, the one underneath that though got the approved stamp as well as Kensei's signature. However the four underneath the approved one got the denied stamp gleefully used on them, Kushina watched amused as Kensei rapidly dwindled the stack of paperwork in front of him. As he stamped he muttered, "this was the only part of the job I didn't miss."

Kushina giggled at his antics before she asked, "so how are things going with Shuhei?"

Kensei froze before he shook himself out of it and said casually, "good, I think."

"You think?" Kushina asked sarcastically.

Kensei shrugged, "I keep thinking I'm going to mess things up. I mean, I met him when he was a kid and I've got a hollow. What the heck does he want with a monster like me anyway?" As he spoke his voice got quieter until it was just above a whisper.

Kushina frowned and laid the sleeping baby on the couch, before she walked over to Kensei and used her fingers to raise his chin so he looked her in the face. She said firmly, "you are not a monster. As for what he sees in you, it certainly isn't a hero, he's gotten to know you too well for that by now. Besides, he doesn't need a hero, what he needs is someone who knows what it's like to be betrayed by someone you trust. In other words he needs you, besides, I think you're good for each other, Shuhei soothes your inner hollow and you lift his spirits. I've heard the officers talking, Shuhei's laughed more since you've been back then in all the time they've known him."

Kensei looked up at her and smiled, "thanks, I needed to hear that."

Kushina plucked the brush out of Kensei's hand and said, "now get out of here. Your paperwork's done, go find Shuhei and spend the day with him." With that she shooed the silver haired captain out of the room before she picked up the baby and went back to the Kuchiki estate.

When she got there she found Ichigo and Byakuya sitting in the garden looking much more rested than before, she smiled and said, "hey, you guys look better."

Ichigo laughed and said, "I feel better now. Thanks for looking after Masaki for me." He held out his hands for his sleeping daughter and Kushina handed over the child. He asked, "she behaved for you, right?"

Kushina snorted, "I don't think she's old enough to misbehave. I went to see Kensei, he told me something interesting…"

Ichigo looked up from his daughter and asked, "what was that?"

Kushina smirked and said, "oh, just that Yoruichi is pregnant by Soi-Fon."

Ichigo blinked and then waved his hand dismissively, "oh yeah, that. I meant to call and tell you but with the OWLs I didn't want to disturb you."

She snorted and said, "that's alright. I've got to head back soon, so I'm going to go visit Kisuke and then go back." She dropped a kiss on the top of her cousins head and said, "later Ichigo."

* * *

After she dropped little Masaki back off with her parents, Kushina decided to go visit Shunsui and see if she could knock some sense into his head. Due to her dreams she knew that he gets together with Chad but how to get him to see that he isn't going to be robbing the cradle… And thus with great determination or at least with great confidence that she was right she strode of toward the eighth division.

As she walked into the division she noticed that several members of the division were already bawdily drunk and a couple gave her odd glances obviously wondering who she was and what exactly she was doing in their division. However they let her pass unmolested, more than likely due to her aura of mischievousness.

She made her way to the Captains office of the division quarters before she slid the door open, she found Captain Shunsui Kyoraku lying on the couch asleep. His paperwork was completed and left for whoever emptied the out boxes to take it away. She chuckled and thought to herself, _'I wonder if Nanao knows that her captain can complete the paperwork in a timely manner... He just chooses not to!'_

Shunsui awoke to hear a familiar chuckle, he frowned slightly wondering what Kisuke's fiancée was doing in his office. He tilted his straw hat up and asked, "so what brings you by my office, Lady Kushina?" After the squads found out that technically Ichigo was a Lord and that he shared Headship of a family with his cousin the majority of the squads called Ichigo, Lord Ichigo and Kushina when she dropped by Lady Kushina. Only idiots with a death wish called the substitute shinigami Lady Ichigo.

She smirked down at him and drawled, "well, well, well…I wonder if your dearest Nanao knows that you can complete your paperwork without being forced?"

He gulped and glanced over at his paperwork nervously before he asked, "what would it take for you not to tell her?" His eyes widened and he started to wonder about the wisdom of bargaining with the one person who could out bargain Kisuke Urahara. Especially since she gave him a wicked grin and laughed darkly.

She pulled him up from the couch and said, "well first things first. We are changing local and once you've drunk some sake, we will discuss just what you can do in order for me to keep your little secret." With that comment she used Shunpo to Kisuke and Yoruichi's childhood playground. The two had started to keep sake there after they had both become shinigami, so Kushina got Shunsui settled and allowed him to drink for half an hour before she began to speak.

"I've seen the way you look at him, you know." Kushina stated casually while pouring Shunsui another drink.

Shunsui paused while reaching for the cup, after the short paused he continued reaching for and picked up the cup while he asked casually, "seen the way I look at who?"

She smiled and said, "who else? Sado Yasutora, A.K.A. Chad to Ichigo and friends." She stared at him levelly while pouring herself a cup of hot tea.

Shunsui swallowed his mouthful of sake before he asked carefully, "and just how do I look at him?"

She took a careful sip of her own drink before she answered, "like he's the first oasis you've come across while being stuck in a vast desert for fifty years. As if he's a map to the greatest treasure you'll ever find, as if he's a feast and you've only been given one chance to eat at it. You look at him like he's the sun, the moon, the stars, the very air in your lungs." She gestured vaguely around her, "in other words you look at him as if he's the center of your universe and without him in it you're lost."

Shunsui stared at her with wide frightened eyes, and murmured, "I suppose you're here to tell me to stop it?"

To his surprise she snorts and lifts his chin so he's looking her in the eye, "no, Shunsui. I don't want you to stop looking at him. I want you to do something about it."

He spluttered and stared at her in shock before exclaiming, "but he's so young!"

She huffed and said sternly, "so am I and Ichigo. But I don't see you getting on to Byakuya and Kisuke for loving us." As she pointed that out she rolled her eyes at his denseness.

"That's different," he muttered at he took another drink of sake.

She raised an eyebrow at him and drawled, "oh, how so? How is it any different?"

Shunsui looked down at his drink sadly, "you're their soul mates. I'm not his."

Kushina blinked then scowled down at him and bopped him on the head, as he whined about how hard she hit him she said, "and just how do you know that? How do you know you aren't soul mates, hmmm?"

As he stared up at her confused she sighed and asked, "do you feel a pull to him? Does something inside you urge you closer? Do you feel that without him around the world would be less bright? Would you give up everything to see him happy? Even your own life and happiness?"

As she asked each question Shunsui merely nodded yes to each, she smiled and slapped him on the shoulder, "congratulations. You're both in love and more than likely found your souls mate in Sado Yasutora! Have another drink." She passed him a full cup of sake and finished her own cup of tea.

Shunsui gaped at her and asked, "what do you mean by that!"

Kushina chuckled and said, "despite me having the dreams, you're forgetting that Kisuke wasn't able to have similar dreams, he only had Isshin's word about it along with his own gut instinct. Kisuke told me that when he first met me, he felt a pull to me, he said that he quickly felt as if my happiness was worth more to him than anything else. He told me that something inside him wanted me close, as if without me by his side it was harder for him to breathe. That as soon as I came around the sun shone brighter and the air tasted sweeter."

As he listened to her he marveled, if that was how it felt around your souls mate then he had more than likely found his. Kushina looked down at him and said, "if Chad feels anything like you do, then he's probably somewhat confused. Just as you felt you don't deserve him because you're too old for him, he probably thinks a child like him could never hold your attention."

He looked up at her and asked, "but how? …How do I convince him that he isn't? That he means the world to me? That he captures my attention just by breathing?" He looked up at her, she smiled down at him and with a wicked glint in her eye began to explain just what he could do to convince Chad just how sincere his attention is.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

After Kushina visited Shunsui and formulated a plan for him, she visited her Fiancé and after that she headed back to Hogwarts, arriving back at the school just in time to have lunch. Ron and Hermione asked how everyone was, she said, "they're fine. I took Masaki off of Ichigo and Byakuya's hands for a few hours to let them get a little rest." Hermione hummed to show she was still listening, so Kushina continued after Ron indicated that she should continue explaining, "I also found out that Yoruichi is pregnant so she won't be able to do some of the demonstrations next year."

Hermione swallowed her pumpkin juice and said, "Yoruichi is pregnant? Wow, so what else did you do?"

Kushina hummed and after swallowing the bite of food she just chewed said, "other than that not much. I watch Kensei-Nisan demolish a huge stack of paperwork and visited Kisuke in the Research and Development department but not much else."

She paused to take a bite of her ham and cheese sandwich, after chewing and swallowing the bite she said, "I had an odd dream last night though."

Ron asked, "how was it odd?"

Kushina finished off her sandwich and said, "I dreamt that Voldemort was being chased around by a bunch of ANBU." She finished off her pumpkin juice and said thoughtfully, "it seemed almost as if it was real…"

As she thought back to the dream she could feel Anubis and Thanatos radiating smugness and satisfaction. Her jaw dropped and her eyes widened as she realized that her dream hadn't been a dream at all. At that thought she started to smile then she started laughing and actually laughed so hard that she fell off the bench and started to roll around giggling. Fred and George had just told a joke when it finally dawned on her so they thought she was laughing about it at first.

After she had been laughing for over five minutes barely pausing in her laughter to breath, Fred leaned over and said, "Kushina, the joke wasn't that funny."

She managed to gasp out, "I'm not laughing about it anyway."

The other houses were looking at the red haired girl oddly and the collective thought went through most of their minds, 'I'm so glad that she isn't in my house.' What the other houses didn't realize was that Gryffindor had gotten used to Kushina's antics, most of the time she was fairly quiet and rarely let loose like this. But on occasion she would figuratively let her hair down and act mischievously.

Case in point, her second year, Lockhart's shampoo had mysteriously been tampered with to make his hair turn a bright neon blue. Every attempt he made to turn it back to blond had increased its brightness until Madam Pomfrey finally just shaved it off and gave him a potion to re-grow his hair. However it took three weeks before Madam Pomfrey got irritated by him bugging her to fix it.

That prank had been only the beginning, there was not a day that went by that his appearance wasn't flawed, Kushina had even managed to get the House Elves in on some of the pranks. The school was certain that if the whole Chamber of Secrets thing hadn't of happened then Kushina and her cohorts pranks would have driven Lockhart mad.

So while the other houses gave the laughing girl a wide berth, the rest of her house merely shrugged and let her be. Ron and Hermione shook their heads and decided to ask her what was so funny later.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Later that night the trio was sitting around Remus and James's quarters when James asked out of the blue, "so what were you laughing about during dinner?"

Kushina snorted and she said, "I realized that a dream I had last night wasn't a dream at all."

Remus looked up from his book and said, "oh…what was the supposed dream about then?"

Kushina smirked and said nonchalantly, "nothing much, it would seem that old Voldy tried to invade my mind last night."

The two adults as well as Ron and Hermione looked up from their various activities and screamed, "WHAT!"

She blinked at the way the four had chorused that before she waved her hand dismissively and said, "don't worry. He's tried it over fifteen times before last night, he didn't make it through my shields during any of those attempts."

Hermione narrowed her eyes and said, "during any of _those_ attempts? Doesn't that imply he made it through last night?"

Kushina smirked and said, "no, last night Thanatos and Anubis got tired of his attempts. So they decided to show him what happens sometimes when you get what you want." She snickered at the looks on their faces and continued to read her book.

Ron asked hesitantly, "I probably don't really want to know…But I'll ask anyway, what did they do to him?"

The other three listened as Kushina began to explain, "well, by the time I got there, Voldy was being chased by the ANBU of my mind. Shortly after I arrived Anubis called his Jackal Warriors to join said chase. The ANBU and Jackals were letting him stay just a few steps ahead of them, but they were running him ragged and my ANBU were throwing weapons at him. Not enough to seriously injure or maim but enough to make him run faster." She smiled viciously, "he probably brushed it off as a dream, since there is now way a child's mind could be more protected than his. As the dream ended the ANBU and Jackals were chasing him through a cave opening."

After several moments to process what she'd just told them the other four people in the room started laughing uncontrollably. And James gasped out, "your inner world's Guardians are hilarious."

At that both Anubis and Thanatos popped up beside their mistress, Thanatos was sprawled out on the floor by her feet and Anubis was perched on the arm of her chair. Thanatos nodded toward James and said, "thanks, you're not so bad yourself."

Anubis was staring at Ron and Hermione, the pair glanced at each other nervously until Anubis snorted and said, "it figures that they would choose you two." He then settled back onto his perch and read the book over his mistresses shoulder.

Thanatos looked up at the pair and muttered something incomprehensible in Greek. Anubis snickered and retorted down at him, "get of the high horse, you like reading them as much as we do. You're just upset since you can't see the book."

Thanatos pouted up at them and Kushina took pity on him, tossing another orange book at him, which he happily grabbed and started reading it, he let out happy sighs as he read. Hermione looked at the trio bemusedly along with the three men, over the summer they had gotten used to Kushina reading and her Zanpakuto doing the same, so while the picture might look odd it was just the usual scene. One of the pair of spirits would read a book alone and the other would hover near Kushina and read over her shoulder, the pair seemed to switch off which one read over their mistresses shoulder.

With a shake of his head Remus went back to his own book and James shrugged his shoulders and continued his game of chess against Ron. Hermione watched the trio for a few minutes before returning to her own book.


	31. Chapter 30: Breakouts and Spies

Chapter Thirty: Breakouts and Spies

The next day at breakfast, the entire school was in shock, apparently there had been a mass breakout of Azkaban. When the Daily Prophet arrived there was yelps and screams all over the Great Hall.

However, when Hermione was one of the ones who had yelped, Ron and Kushina had asked in chorus, "what?"

She spread the newspaper on the table in front of them as an answer, she pointed at ten black and white photographs that filled the front page, there were nine wizards and one witch. Some of the pictures were silently jeering up at the lookers; others were tapping their fingers on the frames looking insolently up at them. Each picture had been captioned with a name and the crime for which they'd been sent to Azkaban for.

**Antonin Dolohov, **read the legend beneath a wizard with a long, pale, twisted face who was sneering up at Kushina, **convicted of the brutal murders of Gideon and Fabian Prewett. **

**Augustus Rookwood, **said the caption beneath a pockmarked man with greasy hair who was leaning against the edge of his picture,** looking bored, convicted of leaking Ministry of Magic secrets to He Who Must Not Be Named. **

**Rabastan Lestrange,** said the blurb under the picture, he was leaning against the side of the frame ignoring everyone around him. When Kushina looked down at the picture he briefly glanced up at her then studiously ignored her.** Convicted along with his sister-in-law and brother of the torture and previously permanent incapacitation of Alice and Frank Longbottom.**

**Rodolphus Lestrange,** the caption underneath the picture of the man completely ignoring his wife and only briefly glanced up at Kushina then over at his brother. **convicted along with his wife and brother for the torture and previously thought to be permanent incapacitation of Alice and Frank Longbottom.**

Both brothers had long and slightly greasy hair from not being able to wash it everyday, the brothers shared the same aristocratic features and strong firm jaws. These men appeared to be stubborn and once they've made their minds up nothing will stop them. Their features appeared a little on the thin side, probably due to how little food they receive in Azkaban.

Kushina's eyes however were drawn to the picture of the witch, her face had leapt out at her the moment she'd seen the page. The witch had long, dark hair that looked unkempt and straggly in the picture, though the first time Kushina had laid eyes on her, her hair had been sleek, thick and shiny. She glared up at Kushina through heavily lidded eyes, an arrogant disdainful smile played around her thin mouth. Like Sirius, she'd retained vestiges of great good looks, but something…perhaps Azkaban…had taken most of her beauty.

**Bellatrix Lestrange, convicted of the torture and the previously thought permanent incapacitation of Frank and Alice Longbottom. Of whom recovered just this past summer, however that will not reduce the Lestrange's sentence.**

Hermione nudged Kushina and Ron, she pointed at the headline over the pictures which Kushina had been ignoring, concentrating solely on Bellatrix.

MASS BREAKOUT FROM AZKABAN!

By. Alexia Cribthorn

The Ministry of Magic announced late last night that there has been a mass breakout from Azkaban.

Speaking to reporters in his private office, Cornelius Fudge, Minister for Magic, confirmed that ten high-security prisoners escaped in the early morning hours of yesterday evening and that he has already informed the Muggle Prime Minister of the dangerous nature of these individuals.

'We find ourselves, most unfortunately, in the same position we were almost three years ago when Sirius Black escaped,' said Fudge last night. 'Nor do we think these two incidents are unrelated. An escape of this magnitude suggests outside help, and we must remember that Black, as the first person to ever break out of Azkaban, would be ideally placed to help other follow in his footsteps. We think it likely that these individuals, who include Blacks cousin, Bellatrix Lestrange, have rallied around Black as their leader. We are, however, doing all that we can to round up these criminals, and we beg the magical community to remain alert and cautious. On no account should any of these individuals be approached.'

When reminded that Sirius Black had been proven innocent of being a Death Eater and supporter of Voldemort the minister did not have anything to say on how the prisoners could have escaped.

Perhaps it was Peter Pettigrew who helped them escape, I fear we will not know until one of the prisoners has been captured. Perhaps, gentle readers, it is time for a new Minister, it would seem that the current one cannot remember when people have been proven innocent and begins to wildly accuse instead of looking into the crime.

This humble reporter does so ask the public to think upon this, would you like your loved ones falsely accused like Sirius Black was last night when the Minister forgot that he had been proven not guilty of the crimes for which he'd been convicted of.

Kushina snorted and said scathingly, "how could he forget that Sirius is innocent? He had to issue a public apology for both the time spent in Azkaban and for the order allowing the Dementors to Kiss him if they found him." She sneered down at the Prophet in disgust.

While at the Staff Table, Snuffles who had retaken his usual spot at Severus feet, the students had noticed that the dog seemed a bit fatter than before, was whining and pawing at Severus pant leg. Lily whistled softly and motioned for the dog to come to her, the dog whined and pawed at Severus leg one last time before he made his way to Lily. She placed the front page in front of the dog and allowed it to read the paper.

To the shock of the watching students, the dog flowed smoothly into human form and shouted, "WHAT! As if I'd ever help Bella to escape, besides Bella would sooner kill me than follow me! Even if I was a Death Eater, which I'm not!"

Sirius huffed and then said, "and Amelia wondered why I refused to return to being an Auror." His blue-grey eyes flashed silver in anger and he growled much like his animal form.

He then glanced over at his shell shocked husband, and upon seeing his husbands face waved his left hand in front of Severus' face and he said, "hello, Earth to Severus. Are you there?"

Thankfully the robes Sirius was wearing concealed his expanding waist line from the students view so all of them, except those who already knew, remained unaware of his pregnancy.

Severus had, without thinking, grabbed his husbands wrist and pulled him into his lap, startled Sirius had blinked a bit in shock before he shrugged off his husband's odd behavior.

The students had gaped up at the pair of men, it had finally dawned on them that the whole time that Professor Snape had been doting on his dog, he had in fact been doting on Sirius Black.

Then it dawned on the Slytherins that their Head of House had been sharing quarters with Sirius Black, and that was not mentioning his threat at the beginning of the year concerning the dog. He had warned them that if any harm came to the dog they would wish that it was a usual detention with him by the time he was done with them.

The Ravenclaws gaped for a few minutes then put the clues that had been in front of them all year long. The dog had been very intelligent and would fetch teachers if it saw the students misbehaving, it often acted humanlike and even gave some of the more trouble making students very stern looks.

The Hufflepuffs merely glanced over at the Gryffindor table and upon seeing the lack of reaction to it they then glanced at the Staff table and saw that the Heads of House weren't surprised at Sirius's sudden appearance. That indicated that they not only knew that Professor Snape's dog was Sirius Black but they also knew about the relationship between the two men. After that they turned back to their meals and their discussions about the break out.

The Gryffindors however had merely glanced at the Golden Trio and saw how they weren't even surprised at how the two men were acting, thus they had shrugged off the behavior and went back to discussing the article. Over the years the Gryffindors had learned to deal with odd situations and events, that was one reason they were sorted into the house of Gryffindor.

It was one of the things the hat looked for when sorting the students, if they were rather brave then they were sorted into Gryffindor. If they were both brave and easily rolled with life's out of field punches then they definitely belonged in Gryffindor.

Salazar had once joked that the reason Gryffindors were so unfazed by odd things was because they saw the odd things as perfectly logical. After all, Godric thought it would be a good idea to tickle a sleeping dragon. Admittedly, Godric had been sloshed when he decided that but it was the principle of the thing. Something that the other three repeatedly told him whenever he tried to excuse his behavior that day.

Meanwhile at the Gryffindor Table, Kushina had remarked, "well, at least I know what he got up to after he tried to invade my mind."

Hermione snorted and said, "you mean after he got chased within an inch of his life by your mental defenses?"

Ron laughed quietly before he commented, "I think even the headmaster would think twice before trying to break into your mind."

Kushina smirked at the two before continuing to eat her breakfast.

Through out the rest of the week, the prison break is all anyone can talk about, well that and the sudden appearance of Sirius Black as Professor Snape's pet dog. Sirius had stopped stalking around as Padfoot and was simply walking around as himself. The first time Sirius came across Malfoy taunting another student, both Malfoy and the student both thought he'd side with Draco but instead he slapped Draco up side the head and dragged him off to see Severus.

Word had thus quickly spread that Sirius did not tolerate bullying at all, if he caught a student bullying he dragged them off to see their head of house.

Later that week, Lily received two letters from a hawk, one was from Rabastan and the other was from Rodolphus.

**Dear Lily,**

**Glad to hear that you are well, Rab and I are fine. We will endeavor to keep ourselves out of trouble and keep a close watch out for the possibility of killing that snake. As for the cup, that should be no problem, I can divorce her without being contested about it, since she has yet to provide me an heir despite having over twenty years to do so.**

**How is James? **

**Is Sirius alright? **

**How is the inner circle spy? **

**Or should I even ask about him?**

**Do you know how Regulus died? All that we ever heard was that he was dead, one source said that the dark lord killed him another said that Aurors killed him. We just want to know how and why...**

**Your Friend and Spy,**

**Rodolphus Quintin Lestrange**

The letter from Rabastan while similar didn't have any of the questions in it. His letter read as followed,

**Dear Lily,**

**How are you? I personally am feeling much better since I've gotten out of Azkaban. How exactly did you know that Voldemort would break us out anyway?**

**We are currently in the middle of no where, and Dolph is getting a bit bored…Truthfully so am I.**

**It would seem that Voldemort wishes to have us back into fighting condition before we do anything so we'll have a while before anyone is attacked.**

**Your Friend and Spy,**

**Rabastan Damian Lestrange**

After she read the letters Lily breathed a sigh of relief and let the rest of the group read them as well.

Kushina read the letters and commented, "well. At least they seem to be in good spirits." She then handed the letters to Hermione and Ron, both read them before passing them over to Neville.

He had snorted at the ending remark above the names of both spies, before he muttered, "your right. They do seem to be in good spirits." He then handed it back to her, she then passed them back to her Aunt.

Lily had taken back the two letters after they made the rounds of the room and said, "I'll go reply to them. Kushina can I use Thanatos to deliver them? I'm sure he'll be able to make sure no one sees them receiving the letters."

Kushina's eyes unfocused as she asked Thanatos, '_**well, do you mind?'**_

She heard a soft snort from him then he replied, _**'not at all, My Lady. Tell her I will deliver her messages to her spies.'**_

Kushina looked up at her aunt and said, "he said that he'll do it."

Lily nodded in thanks to her niece before she sat down to pen the letters to the last of her spies. If both of them had to flee, she'd have no more spies in the Death Eaters as Regulus was dead and Severus had given up spying. After she finished writing the letters she handed them to Kushina and said, "have him leave after dark. That way no one sees him flying."

Kushina had nodded before she turned around and left. She had decided to practice in the Room of Requirement, she had practiced throwing her shuriken and kunai. She had landed bulls eyes every time after over two hours of practice.

She had then tilted her head to the right as she surveyed the targets, which were littered with the thrown kunai and shuriken.

Anubis had appeared while she was contemplating the spacing of her throws and commented wryly, "nice throwing technique."

She had laughed softly in reply before she said, "thanks, Anubis."

After that she walked toward the targets and retrieved her weapons before leaving for the common room. The room quieted as soon as she entered and she said, "I'm going to go read in my room. Do whatever you want, so long as you're in bed at a reasonable time and you don't make too much noise."

As her door closed behind her, she heard a whoop come from the twins and Seamus. She rolled her eyes before she summoned Thanatos, he kneeled in front of her and asked, "shall I go now, My Lady?"

She glanced out the window at the darkening sky then sighed, "you might as well."

She handed him the two letters and said, "wait for a reply, unless they say it'll be a while before they send one. After that return here immediately."

Thanatos took the letters from her and bowed his head, "as you wish, My Lady."

With that he transformed into a crow and flew out the window, holding the letters in his talons. Once he had reached a sufficient distance from the school he transformed back into a man and put the letters in his mouth before returning to his avian form.

He then made his way southeast until he found the brothers outside of a small manor, they were looking much better. Their faces had filled out a bit and both were no longer looking frightfully thin.

Bellatrix was, thankfully, no where near the pair, so he landed in front of them and gave a muffled caw to get their attention. The brothers looked up to find the crow sitting on a tree branch and watched it carefully as it ruffled its feathers before dropping the letters at their feet.

Rodolphus picked up the letters and handed one to his younger brother while he muttered, "well, Lily replied." He glanced up at the crow and said, "although I wonder who the bird belongs to…"

With a low caw Thanatos transformed and said, "to My Lady. Who else would I belong to?"

Both brothers were startled and Rabastan said, "you can transform into a bird?"

Thanatos nodded, "a crow to be specific."

He then tilted his head to the letters and said, "you may want to read those. My Lady told me to wait until, I was sure you wouldn't be replying anytime soon." With that he settled with his back against the tree and watched as the pair opened their letters.

Rabastan opened his letter and read it quietly to himself, he snorted at the contents;

Dear Rab,

I'm fine, and I am glad to hear you've kept your sense of humor. As for how I knew he'd break you out is simple, I simply put myself in his shoes. If I was in his position I'd break out those who never wavered in their declaration of being my followers.

Oh dear, nothing good ever comes of it when you two get bored, something that you share with my Goddaughter, Kushina.

Whenever she says she's bored her house ends up battening down the hatches and diving for shelter. Apparently she usually keeps her boredom in the house but this year she's decided to branch out and share her boredom with the rest of the school.

It's good that he's waiting, after all, we need you back into shape and it allows us to prepare for the worst. I'll speak with you another time, I'll see about getting Thanatos to delver the messages but if not, I'll find a way.

Your Friend,

Lily Marie Evans-Potter

Beside him was Rodolphus reading his quietly. He looked up at Rabastan's snort and asked, "is yours that amusing?" Before turning back to his letter at Rabastan's shrug. His read;

Dear Dolph,

I'm glad to hear that the both of you are alright. I am also glad to hear that you will be doing your best to keep safe. I guess it's a good thing that the two of you never had a child then.

James is fine, he says to tell you hello. Sirius is fine, matter of fact, he's pregnant. His husband is overjoyed with the news, if a bit overprotective of Sirius.

As for Severus, he's fine, he's decided that its much too risky for him to return to spying.

Regulus found out some information and acted on it. Apparently he knew he'd die so he set his affairs into order before he went. I will tell you more later, in a way the Dark Lord killed him, he just isn't aware of it. No the Auror's had nothing to do with Regulus' death.

Your friend,

Lily Marie Evans-Potter

Both men looked up at the waiting man and Rabastan said, "I won't be sending a reply anytime soon. But can you ask her how to contact her if we have information that needs to be given as soon as possible."

Thanatos nodded good-bye to them both before he transformed back into a crow and flew off.

As the crow flew off, Rodolphus commented, "I can't believe Severus was her inner circle spy. I thought they'd a falling out in their fifth year?"

Rabastan said, "they did. At least I thought they did… Maybe they were play acting and did it so Severus would have a reason to join the Death Eaters?"

Dolph shrugged and said, "who knows…Who knows. We can always ask them later if we're still alive when Voldemort's dead."

Rabastan nodded and commented, "true…Very true. Lets get back before Bella comes to her senses and realizes we're not there." With that comment he hit his older brother's shoulder and walked toward the house.

Rodolphus sneered at the thought of being near the abomination he called his wife, but he followed his baby brother to the house.

Meanwhile back at Hogwarts, Kushina had been reading an old scroll she'd borrowed from Mikoto and never seemed to return. As she read it she remembered how it used to be back in Konoha, especially after she got pregnant and Minato pulled her off the active duty roster.

The scroll was about fire techniques and a rather interesting one at that… She had never learned how to do the Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu, other wise known as the Fire Release: Great Fireball technique. Both Minato and Fukaku had found it hilarious that despite learning two of the hardest to control Fire Release techniques, she couldn't master the simplest.

Kushina had merely scowled at them while Mikoto smirked at her friend.

Sakumo, however, when he heard about it laughed, and commented, "only you Kushina could master two of the hardest techniques of an element you don't have an affinity too and be upset at not mastering the simple ones."

That had been one of the last conversations she had with him before he left for that fateful mission, when he came back she had taken one look at him and knew even before he said anything to her…

Something had broken Sakumo, she didn't know what it was, until three days after the missions failure was announced, she had been on a mission until then. After she heard she had stormed over to Sakumo's house and talked to him, she said firmly, "I would've done the exact same as you. Don't ever doubt your decision, Sakumo."

She had then given him a hug and told him that she'd come by to check on him and Kakashi later. Two months after that conversation, Sakumo committed ritual suicide to clean his family name of the dishonor his failed mission had placed on it and to allow Kakashi to walk proudly.

He didn't want his son to be hurt because of his choices, he couldn't have known that his son would be the one to discover his body.

Nor that his son would start covering his face afterward.

She was shaken out of her reverie several minutes later by Thanatos' return and she looked at him as she asked, "did they give you any letters?"

Thanatos shook his head and said, "no My Lady. But they did ask how to contact Lily if they had information that needed to be known immediately."

Kushina frowned and said slowly, "I'll ask her. She'll probably say that two way communication mirrors would be best to use."

She then set aside her scroll and got up, as she walked to the door she said over her shoulder, "you can return back to my inner world Thanatos." He nodded and disappeared into a black misty shadow.

With that she exited her rooms into the common room which was still full of chatting students who were gossiping about both Sirius' appearance and the breakout from Azkaban.

She walked over to the prefects and said, "I'm going to see Professor Lily. I don't know when I'll be back. If something happens and you need to get Professor McGonagall I give you permission to leave the common room." The four prefects nodded, and Kushina commented, "if Hermione comes down, tell her about this. Alright?"

Once again the four prefects nodded and Kushina left the common room and made her way down to the dungeons. She passed the Hufflepuff common room and walked past the corridor leading to Severus's classroom and office as well as the Slytherin common room. She made her way down the stairs between Lily's and Severus's classrooms, she then walked to the spiral staircase leading down to dungeon level three where Lily had taken up her quarters.

She made her way to the east side of the castle and ignored the steps leading to the dungeons of level four where more quarters were located. Very few people ever chose to live in the dungeons, Lily only chose to live there because she could prowl around in her animagus form to her hearts content. She knocked on the door leading to Lily's quarters and waited for her to open the door. After a few minutes the door opened and Lily looked out to see her fellow red-haired witch in front of her.

"Hey Aunt Lily, can I come in?" Kushina asked.

Lily nodded and said, "sure. Come on in. I was just going over some notes on a few potions." Lily gestured for Kushina to take a seat in one of the armchairs and asked, "what can I do for you?"

Kushina sat down and said, "Thanatos came back. He said that Rodolphus and Rabastan asked how to get a hold of you if they came across any information that had to be passed immediately." She accepted a cup of hot chocolate from Lily and sipped it while waiting for Lily's answer.

Lily frowned and said, "that's tough to answer. Owls would be out of the question, and floo calling would be too dangerous for their positions…" She trailed off in thought, her brow furrowing as she tried to solve her conundrum.

Kushina took another sip of the hot drink and after allowing her Aunt several moments of thought suggested, "what about two way mirrors?"

Lily hummed before she said thoughtfully, "that could work…they'd have to be careful when using them but it'd be much safer than floo."

Kushina nodded and finished her hot chocolate before she commented, "I can have Thanatos take the mirrors to them. Or I can send one of Anubis's jackals…I suggest Thanatos, since he wouldn't frighten them as much."

Lily laughed at that and quipped, "I'm not sure they are frightened by Thanatos, I think they've gotten used to him by now."

Kushina chuckled and said, "true, we have had Thanatos visiting them often enough. He's gotten to enjoy their senses of humor and while he visited them in Azkaban the Dementors stayed away from him. I think instinctively they realize that Thanatos can kill them without trying very hard."

Lily nodded, and then turned the discussion to other matters. The pair talked about various things, such as where Kushina had learned half of the things she taught the other students.

After almost three hours and at fifteen minutes to midnight Lily noticed the time and said, "whoops, I kept you too long. You better get back to your dorm and rest." She ruffled Kushina's bangs and said, "I'll see you later, Kiddo."

Kushina rolled her eyes in exasperation at the way everyone she knew had to at one time ruffle her bangs. She got up from her chair and made her way back upstairs to the seventh floor where the Gryffindor common room was located.

When she entered the common room she found it empty and after several moments of thought she walked up the stairs to the boy's dorms and checked up on them, she found everyone asleep in their beds.

Everyone that is except for Fred and George, the twins had frozen in place until they saw that it was only Kushina then they breathed a sigh of relief.

She entered their dorm and, after seating herself on Fred's bed, asked, "so…What are you guys up to?"

Fred had shrugged from his place on George's bed and said, "just going over some product ideas. Got any for us, oh great benefactor?"

George looked up from the book he was writing in as she hummed, "lets see…Have you guys thought about developing a sweet that makes everything you say come out in Parseltongue? Or a different language at least, like instead of speaking French, Fleur would speak Italian?"

Both of them gaped at her and said after giving her a kiss on the cheek, "that's brilliant!"

Fred then turned to George and said, "quick! Write that down," he waved his hand impatiently at his twin, who was quickly jotting down the idea.

George looked up at her and asked excitedly, "got anymore?"

Kushina laughed and said, "a few… why? You want to hear them?"

The twins got devious looks on their faces and chorused, "of course!"

Kushina grinned at them and said, "alright. I'll tell, how about a sweet or device that makes you tell nothing but the truth until either time has run out or until the antidote is taken? Or how about a quill and eraser set that makes codes, the quill writes what you want in code and the eraser translates the code? The quill would have to be a dictation quill and the eraser charmed to only work for that particular quill… What do you guys think? Are they doable?"

The twins got a gleeful look on their faces and George quickly scribbled down the two ideas. They asked, "got anymore you want to tell us?"

Kushina thought for a few minutes then said, "nope, I've got nothing else." With that she got up off the bed and walked to the door, Lee was sound asleep in the bed farthest away from the door. She looked over her should and said, "night you two. I'm going to make sure all of the girls are either asleep or at least in their dorms."

Both chorused, "good night Kushina-Chan!"

She had then closed their door then walked down the stairs and then walked up the stairs, she opened the first year girls dorm and found all of them sound asleep. She then continued up the stairs stopping at each years dorm and found all of them sound sleep.

At least until the fourth years dorm, when she opened the door she saw Ginny sitting at the foot of her bed brushing her hair, she looked up to see Kushina standing at the door and asked quietly, "doing bed checks?"

Kushina nodded and said equally as quietly, "you know it. It would be just my luck the one night I don't check and some girl will be sneaking out to visit a boy."

Ginny had snickered but waved goodnight at Kushina as she closed the door and walked up the stairs to the fifth year dorm. She opened the door to find Lavender and Parvati dressing quietly, she overheard the pair giggling and as Lavender said, "so Kushina isn't back yet. Good maybe we can finally sneak into the make-out area."

Both girls were wearing rather skimpy outfits, Parvati was wearing a shirt that showed off her abdomen and her skirt was so short, if she sat down she'd flash everyone around her a view of her underwear.

Lavender on the other hand was wearing a tube top and a pair of shorts that had been cut off right at the area where the leg met the groin. Kushina sneered in contempt at the way they were dressed.

However just looking at the girls she could tell that neither one was wearing a brassier for one thing she couldn't see any straps over their shoulders. For another the shirts were so tight she should've been able to see the lines that they would have caused.

Kushina had then cleared her throat and said sternly, "I don't think so."

Both girls looked up with wide eyes and Kushina's flashed bright gold before she said, "detention. For both of you," with that she snapped her fingers and a house elf appeared beside her.

It looked up at her and asked, "yes miss. What can Trippy be doing for you?"

Kushina looked down at the house elf and said, "Trippy, if these two girls try to leave their dorm before curfew is raised stop them. They have detention with for trying to sneak out of the dorm."

Lavender protested in a hushed tone, "but you snuck out of your dorm all the time. How come me and Parvati are getting punished?"

Kushina glared at her and said, "because me, Ron and Hermione always had a good reason for sneaking out. And when we were caught, we got punished, or don't you remember in our first year, how we lost one hundred and fifty points in one night."

Both girls scowled at her, Kushina stared impassively at them before she snarled, "now sit down, shut up, accept your punishment and go to bed."

She then looked at the pair and said scathingly, "and get those ridiculous outfits off."

She then turned around and left the fifth year dorms in a huff, she checked the sixth and seventh year dorms and found all of their occupants snoring and dreaming peacefully. She then walked down the stairs back to her rooms and after getting ready for bed went to sleep.

As she had walked down the stairs she had commanded the house elf to wake her if they tried to leave their dorm. As she continued down the stairs she sneered at the idea of going to an area of the school just to make out with a boy. Didn't they realize that the boys who went to those areas had only one thing on their minds and it certainly wasn't marriage.

She flopped down on her bed and sighed gustily, Anubis appeared beside her and Thanatos appeared by her armoire. Anubis sighed and said, "it is a thankless job, My Lady. What you do…you try to keep them safe and they don't even realize they were in danger to begin with."

Thanatos nodded, "if it weren't for you they might have had sex and gotten pregnant. The boy never would have owned up to it unless the test proved it. And if the boy is a pureblood, his parents might just pay for the problem to go away."

She snorted and turned over as she said, "good night you two. You can stay out if you want to read but do it quietly and in the living room."

She heard a pair of chuckles and Anubis kissed her left temple as he said, "good night to thee, My Lady."

She then felt the bed tilt to the right as Thanatos leaned over hear and murmured in her ear, "good night, My Dear Lady. May my brother give thee only the sweetest dreams." He then got up off the bed and walked out to the living area, closing the door gently behind him.


	32. Chapter 31: There's No Place Like Home

Chapter Thirty-One: There's No Place Like Home

The next day was the leaving feast, after the leaving feast there was a party held for the seventh years. Fifth through seventh years were invited to attend, it was both a going away party for seventh years and a congrats to the fifth years for making it through their OWLs. Of course the party this year was also a relief to the staff, the Weasley twin had finally finished school and would no longer be returning to cause chaos.

However what most of the staff forgot was the fact that they had two of the infamous Marauders on staff and the third happened to be sharing quarters with Severus Snape. Not to mention they forgot about a certain trio's usual antics, which thankfully this year passed without a real incident.

The day after the leaving feast students were packing and preparing for the train ride home the next day. Others were lazing about by the lake, or studying in the library, or just plain enjoying their last day at Hogwarts. Some students were down at Hagrid's hut visiting Belinda before they had to leave, she reassured the students that she would still be at Hogwarts when they returned next year.

Kushina packed away all of her things into her trunk, she had put all of her Shinobi tools into storage scrolls, she also placed her favorite book series into a storage scroll. The first things into her trunk was her school books while the second thing was her clothing.

Once everything for school was fully packed into the trunk she began to place the rest of her stuff on top of it. The chest containing her ANBU uniform and her storage scrolls were nestled by each other and scrolls on sealing that she'd been writing were placed beside her school books.

Her invisibility cloak was wrapped around her ring and nestled on top of them was the Marauders map. All three items were placed next to the chest containing her old uniform, she shook her head and wondered what the reaction would be if her and Kisuke showed up in Konoha. The king had told her not too worry about Kisuke's memories from his life as Minato, he told her that she was the key to him remembering.

She then closed the lid and activated her locks, the locks would only open if she pressed her blood and flared her Reiatsu as she swiped her blood across the locking mechanism. If anyone but her tried the trick, they'd be frozen in place until she got there, since the locks ward would alert her to the attempted break in.

Of course the twins took that as a challenged and tried to open it no fewer than twenty times during the previous summer. Every time they had tried she had to come release them from the Kido spell.

When she went to bed that night she felt both of her Zanpakuto manifest in the room and after wishing her peaceful dreams they both went out into the living area to read. Kushina had left her Icha Icha books out of the storage scroll that she put her books into. A fact which both of the spirits seemed to appreciate.

The next day the students boarded the train and in the carriages many students were playing exploding snap or Wizard's chess or talking to their friends that they wouldn't be able to see until the next school year.

Many of them were wondering if professor Lupin would still be their Defense Against the Dark Arts professor next year. While others were pouting over losing their new Potions professor.

Kushina and the others were quietly discussing the previous summer, Neville was excited to spend an entire summer with his mother and father. Ron was regretting that he had asked the twins what they had planned for the upcoming summer as the two were talking about Yumichika and their joke shop. They made the remark that Lee had accepted to run the Hogsmeade location once they had the Diagon Ally location up and running.

Kushina smirked and said, "well, at least Theo will be able to visit him regularly."

The twins beamed and said, "we know!"

Kushina then looked over at Hermione and asked, "so what are you doing this summer?"

Hermione looked up from her book and said, "mom and dad are taking me to Italy for two weeks. Then I'll be spending time with you guys, mom said that she's going to take Dad on a surprise trip to Australia." She made a face and said, "if they come back with a little sibling for me, I'm going to be both surprised and slightly disgusted."

Ron asked, "why? Wouldn't you be glad to have a baby brother or sister?"

She sighed and remarked, "yes, I'll be glad to be a big sister. However, the thought of my parents having marital affairs is not something I want to picture."

Everyone in the carriage froze in place for a minute and then unanimously agreed with her, the thought of their parents having sex was not something they wanted to picture.

Thankfully the rest of the train ride passed without incident, even Malfoy refrained from making his usual end of the year trip visit upon them.

As they arrived at the station the students disembarked and after waving goodbye to friends and greeting family members that came to get them, left the stations by groups of twos and threes. Kisuke was waiting for the trio along with Mrs. Weasley and the Grangers.

Hermione was quickly embraced by her mother and asked about how her school year had been. Hermione quickly waved goodbye to Ron and Kushina who waved back, Hermione was going on holiday to Italy for the first two weeks of summer vacation, then she'd be back to spend some time with the other two of the trio.

Mrs. Weasley said, "hello dears. How was your school year?"

Kushina shrugged and said, "good. How was your time without the kids around?"

Molly smiled down at her, "oh, not that bad. Percy dropped by every once and a while to check up on me. Arthur says that he's doing rather well, Madam Bones is quite pleased with how hard he works."

Ron smiled at his mother and said, "that's good."

While Molly was checking on her children Kisuke had scooped Kushina up and after giving her a hug, he gave her a quick chaste kiss. She laughed before she said, "did you have fun while I was gone, my dear mad scientist?"

His blue eyes twinkled at her and he said, "but of course. Nemu is quite the sharp minded young lady. She was a bit upset at Mayuri's sentence but she's adjusted to having me for her captain instead of him."

Kushina laughed and said, "good, I never liked what Uryu and Ichigo had to say about him." The students that were leaving waved goodbye to Kushina and shouts of, 'see you next year, Potter!' Rang out around them, she waved back ruefully, and she muttered, "terrific. Why do I have the feeling that they are going to expound my virtues to their parents?"

Kisuke looked down at her bemusedly and quipped, "perhaps because they are."

She groaned and rolled her eyes in exasperation, he chuckled at seeing her so discomfited by the attentions of her fellow students. His Shina-Chan preferred the shadows unless it concerned Quidditch, then she was all for showing off.

She glared up at him for laughing at what she termed her plight, he laughed again then suggested, "perhaps we should head home. Your parents said they'd meet us at Jackal's Lair."

She shrugged and after Molly shrunk hers, Ron's, Ginny's and the twin's trunks, they all took a portkey back to Jackal's Lair.

The last thing the rest of the people on the platforms saw of Kushina was her laughing at Ron's face when the twins teased him about something they couldn't hear.

The End (or at least for now!)


	33. Another Note!

Alright Majority vote wins with The sequel to Familia Ante Omnia. Now Second question for you all.

It was brought to my attention that if you've already reviewed a chapter you can not review it again. So for those who did review chapter 33 the last time, just switch to a chapter you didn't review to cast your vote that way. My thanks to The Silver Dragon Master for bringing this matter to my attention.

Also this poll will go for about two weeks, that should give me some time to write a few chapters of the sequel for you all.

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**Okay next question, do you want me to post the story as I write it or post it all at once like with Familia Ante Omnia?**

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**Your Options are below. Please go to my profile if you have a FF account and place your vote.**

**Choice #1.) Yes, post it all at once**

**Choice #2.) No, post it as you write it.**

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**Those are your choices folks.**


	34. Poll Result and AN on Sequel

Alright folks, here is the result of the Poll,

**29 people** said to post it as I wrote it and only **9** said that I should post it all at once.

Another person raised a concern about me ignoring or abandoning it. Let me say this now, **I WILL NEVER COMPLETELY ABANDON ONE OF MY STORIES.** I don't start a story until the one I'm working on is finished. Hence why it's taking me a while to post the sequel. I'm working on it right now but I don't want to start posting any chapters until I have at least a third of the chapters done.

:stares at document: I have almost a third of it complete right now but I might be selling my house. so here's what I'm going to do. I'll post the first two chapters tonight, if it's well received I'll post another two chapters tomorrow, however if I've sold my house before I've posted all of what I have written I'll do a mass post and leave an authors note. I might be without the internet for quite some time until I can find a reliable network out in California.

While I'm moving and settling in I will be writing the story as well as while I'm looking for work and a new internet provider. If I haven't found a good internet provider I will go to the public library and use their computers to download it to the site and make a post.

But while you're waiting you can have another poll, beleive me it's relevant to any future stories I write but not the Familia Ante Omnia series.

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Question is this: **Do you want me to post a basic run through of the other plot bunnies or should I leave you guessing until I write it?**

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**The choices are this:**

Yes, post the summaries and slight plot outline.

No, don't post them leave it as a surprise.

Yes but post only the outline.

Yes, post the summaries and slight plot outline.

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Okay that should cover all the bases, but if you think that there should be another choice just post your oppinion in a review and I'll get back to you either by PMing you or by leaving a note in this chapter.


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